


Timeless Academia

by MadCrona



Category: Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: But Still Kinda Has A Version Of One For All?, Fate Has A Lot Of Characters, Gen, Mage Midoriya Izuku, this is gonna be a long story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:54:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 56,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29718888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadCrona/pseuds/MadCrona
Summary: The Chaldea Security Organization. Dedicated to protecting the safety of the world, they venture into Earth's storied past to correct any Singularities that appear to threaten its stability. With humanity's greatest heroes at their side, they prepare to save everyone from a being that seeks to end the human race, and create a world of blissful indolence.So how did a boy with no magic, no family lineage, and not even one of these things called a "Quirk" end up as the Last Master of Humanity?
Comments: 50
Kudos: 46





	1. Prologue

# Prologue

She heard the alarm ringing in her ears, rousing her from a dazed state. Even with her senses dulled, her vision blurry and her hearing muffled, she could tell something had gone wrong. She could see the blue lights of CHALDEAS and FATE had turned red, chunks of the ceiling had fallen to the floor, and fire licked at various places around her.

An explosion. Right, that was what happened. They had been preparing for the first Rayshift experiment, and then there was that deafening sound. She must have lost consciousness.

Realization dawned on her soon after. The other teams, the staff, the Masters. How many of them were still alive? Her ears were still ringing a bit. If anyone was screaming or saying anything, it just became muffled static to her.

She was on her belly, she soon realized. She moved her arm forward in an attempt to crawl, but soon realized that she couldn’t move. After that, she came to realize that she couldn’t actually feel anything below her waist. She turned her head behind her to look, wondering what had happened, only to see a massive chunk of concrete block most of her vision.

_Oh_ , she thought dully. Now it made sense. She was going into shock. Her spine had no doubt been severed by the impact, and with the pool of blood she could now feel underneath her, something had likely been pierced as well.

So, this was it. She was going to die here.

She felt disappointed, strangely enough. Not scared, or sad, or angry. Just disappointed. She felt like she had been robbed of something. All this time put into bringing her to life, making her a Demi-Servant, and for nothing, in the end. She would simply die trapped under some rubble, having done nothing with the gifts she had been given. She hadn’t saved the world, she hadn’t helped anyone. It was tragic, but it wasn’t like she could feel sad for herself. After all, she wasn’t worth much to begin with.

Her only concern was Dr. Roman. She hadn’t seen him among the staff when the experiment began. Hopefully that meant he was safe and had avoided the worst. He was probably slacking off when everyone else was getting prepared. That was just like him. She wondered if he’d miss her. He probably would. He was sentimental like that. He’d still have Fou, though. That was a small comfort for her, but it comforted her all the same.

It was alright. She could just let go now.

It was then that she lifted her head. Had someone been calling for her? Her hearing was fading in and out, but she could’ve sworn she heard her name just now.

She blinked behind her glasses, as a shape appeared just before her. It was a person, and as it drew closer, she had this nagging feeling that there was something familiar about him.

Wait, she had met him before, hadn’t she? Oh, that’s right. It was the new recruit. She saw him out in the hall earlier. He must’ve avoided this whole thing. What was he doing there, though? Shouldn’t he be trying to get away?

The young man stopped for a moment, looking down at her, as she did the same to him. He looked horrified. Not that she could blame him, she imagined that she looked like a mess right now.

What took her by surprise, however, was when he hurried past her, coming to a stop at the debris holding her down. She turned to look at him as best she could, only to be greeted with a far more baffling sight.

He was trying to _push_ the debris off of her.

“...Senpai...?” she croaked out.

In response, the young man cried out: “Just hang on!” There was clear panic in his voice.

Was he really trying to do this? She knew it was impossible. She’d seen him before. He was skinny, almost underfed. The Director had deemed him unfit to even participate in the Rayshifting. There was no way he could move this off of her, and he had to know that too. So why was he even trying?

“Senpai...” she said again.

“Just...hang on...!” he uttered again, grunting as he kept attempting to move the immovable. “I...can...save you...!” he continued, every word strained and tense.

Save her? Why would he even say something like that? There was no way he could. It was utterly impossible. Everything was set against the both of them. At the rate things were going, they were both going to die.

Was this a bad joke? No, it wasn’t the time for something like that. She could see it on his face. The pain and panic that was written all over his expression said he was completely serious. He genuinely wanted to try and rescue her, even if it meant he was likely to die in the attempt. The fire was growing by the minute, and whoever set off the bomb was still out there. The longer he stayed there, the worse the risk was for him. Yet, he still spent time in this futile attempt.

It made no sense logically, but she couldn’t begrudge him for it. No, she actually found it endearing. Gallant. Heroic, even.

She wished she had spent more time with him. He seemed like a very nice person.

She heard him make a pained noise as his grip slipped off of the debris, causing him to stumble and fall to his knees beside her. The chunk of concrete hadn’t budged at all.

“Damn it!” he shouted out, frustration evident in his voice. He turned around and started to get back up, seemingly to try again, but she knew it was enough. She reached out and touched the hem of his pant leg, just to try and get his attention.

“Senpai...it’s OK...” she said in an attempt to comfort him.

The young man paused, dropping back to his knees. He seemed to understand the hopelessness of the situation, but it did nothing to dissuade his feelings. “No...no it’s not...” he responded, his voice trembling as he spoke.

It was so strange to her. He barely knew who she was. Why was he going this far for her? However, the confusion that came with the illogical nature of his actions was buried more and more behind growing feelings of admiration.

With those feelings came fear, much to her surprise. She was going to die, that much couldn’t be avoided. Yet, she was going to die while knowing nothing about the man who tried to save her. He was a stranger, risking everything for another stranger. Someone like that deserved to be recognized for it.

She moved her hand off of his leg, but held it out to him, her voice becoming more pleading.

“Senpai...can you...hold my hand? ...please?”

The young man looked at her again, and wordlessly did as she asked. Both of his hands clasped around hers, even as they trembled against her skin. His hands were a bit larger than hers, yet his touch was gentle. She allowed herself to smile. “Thank you...” she whispered.

She noticed a light trickling of blood against her hand, coming from his. He must have cut it on something while trying to free her. His hands were still warm, however. That feeling alone made her elated. No one had done something like this for her before. It felt special, in a way. Dr. Roman had told her that only those who were very close to each other held hands like this. How funny it was that it was only at the end of her life that she met someone who would do this for her, then.

“Thank you...” she repeated.

She lifted her head slightly to look at this person, only to be greeted with another surprising sight. This mysterious boy had tears trickling down his cheeks. His eyes had met hers, and the sorrowful expression was all she could see.

Was he crying because he knew he was going to die? Was he just that scared? No, he had to know what he was doing coming in. Then, he was crying for _her_. She was going to die, and that made him sad.

What a strange and wonderful boy. She wished dearly that they had spent more time together now.

“...I...didn’t get to tell you my name...before...” she whispered to him. She couldn’t give him anything else but that. She hoped it’d mean something to him. “I’m...Mash Kyrielight...”

The boy sniffled, but he kept his hands on hers. He nodded slowly, acknowledging that she spoke, but unable to answer himself.

“...can you...tell me your name? Please...?” she asked him. It’d be the last thing that she heard, at this rate. She liked that idea, for some reason.

The lights around them seemed to throb, but her vision was getting blurry again. She could hear the alarm, hear the computer saying something, but it was a muffled mess. She strained herself to focus, wanting to hear his reply.

He sniffled again, and as her vision began to fade, she just managed to hear him.

“Midoriya...Izuku.”


	2. Fuyuki: Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku's first step into the world of mages and Servants is a shaky one, but at least he has a new friend to help him.

# Hell on Earth

Izuku felt like he was falling. A slow, weightless descent, deeper and deeper into a pool beneath him. Nothing lay before his eyes but darkness. Nothing reached his ears, only silence drifted through the abyss.

Was this what dying felt like? His body felt listless, without any energy to speak of. He couldn’t move anything, and frankly, he didn’t see the need to. It was as if his concerns were suddenly much less important than they used to be.

So, this was it. His life was over. Well, if one could even call it a life. Spent so much time pursuing an impossible dream, with everyone telling him he should give it up. Even his idol, the man he admired most in the world, told him he was better off trying something else. He hadn’t even decided if he wanted to give up. He just kept pushing forward like some idiotic robot. This was his reward for that, it seemed. A small part of him felt bitter about that, but there wasn’t any point dwelling on it now.

The only real concern he had was for his parents. What would his mother say when she found out? Would she even find out? How long would it take? Would she know he was dead, or would she think he just ran away somewhere and abandoned her? Would his father find out? Would he even care? It was a shame that he’d never know the answer to these now. He hoped at least that they would recover.

Maybe they were better off without him anyway. His mother could leave that town and go abroad with his father. They would still have each other. They could have another kid. Maybe they’d have better luck then, and not be stuck with some poor idiot without a Quirk. Yeah, they’d move on. They’d be OK.

It was fine. He could let go now.

Oh, right. There was that girl he met. The one with the lilac hair and glasses. Was she OK? He couldn’t remember if he got her out of the rubble. Probably not, come to think of it. That was unfortunate, she should’ve at least got a chance to live.

“...pai...sen...Senpai...”

She did call him that, didn’t she? That was a weird thing to say to someone she’d just met. She didn’t look Japanese either. Was it just a word she’d heard from someone and was trying it out? How strange. It was a shame he didn’t think to ask her, but then again he was never very good at talking to cute girls.

“...up...wake up...”

Wake up? He couldn’t wake up, he was dead. Or dying, at least. Who was talking to him, anyway? The voice sounded familiar, at least a little. She sounded worried, but he couldn’t imagine why. Had someone found him?

“...please...wake up...”

Wait. Was he not dead?

“Senpai, if you don’t wake up, _you’re going to die!_ ”

\----------------------------------------

The first thing Izuku’s brain registered when his eyes opened was a blackened sky, with red glowing beneath it, the smoke rising higher and higher into the endless horizon.

The second thing Izuku’s brain registered was the worst pain he’d ever felt in his life.

He let out an agonized scream, instinctively recoiling his back off the broken ground beneath his body. It did little to relieve him, as his shoulders and legs were also wrought with agony, and each movement he tried to make only made the already-excruciating pain intensify even more. He rolled over onto his side to try and relieve it, only for pain to shoot through his arm as well. He rolled again onto his chest, and yet he’d find no relief there either, as he jolted back as though he’d just been stabbed in the heart. Each movement was accompanied by another scream, and already he was at risk of screaming himself hoarse.

In the midst of this, his brain tried to make sense of his surroundings, but the sensations were so intense he could barely get his other senses to work. He saw buildings around him, or the remains of them anyway. He saw rubble close to him, chunks of concrete that had been blown up off of the ground and lay littered in random locations. He saw fire consuming debris, threatening to approach him if he remained where he was.

He tried to push himself to his feet, but even just resting on his knees sent waves of agony through his whole body. He felt what little strength he had leaving him with each passing second, and was growing far weaker and wearier in turn. The temptation to drop back on the ground and return to the bliss of unconsciousness was growing stronger in response.

He could swear he heard someone calling to him, but he’d soon have a far larger problem on his hands. Within the line of his blurry and hazy vision, he’d see a shape slowly approach. As it drew closer, he wondered for a moment if he was in the middle of a harrowing nightmare.

A skeleton. A literal walking skeleton, like something out of an old movie. Its bones were nearly black with age and decay, yet it could still walk around. Granted, it dragged its feet with each shift forward, its arms hung limply at its sides, and its head hung slightly to its left, but the fact that it was moving at all was a horrifying miracle.

It shifted closer to Izuku, and its right arm lifted a sword that was as rusted and decayed as it was. Passing out again would have to wait, clearly, as Izuku had to move. Yet, as much as he tried to will his body to do so, each twitch just caused him to flinch and yelp in pain. His legs couldn’t even _move_ properly.

This couldn’t be it, right? He just clawed back from death, and now he was going to die for real?

“Senpai!”

There was that voice again. Who was calling out to him?

Izuku would receive his answer when another figure dashed into his line of sight from behind him, diving in front of the skeleton before its swing could finish. He first saw the shield. It was round in the middle, but had four edges that stretched out to form a giant cross. It was easily bigger than its wielder, and yet she swung it forward as though it weighed nothing. The round middle clashed against the rusted blade, pushing it back and forcing the skeleton back a step. Before it could make another move, the bottom edge of the shield arced through the air, crashing against the skeleton’s exposed neck, causing it to fall to the ground in a pile of bones.

With the battle over as quickly as it began, Izuku was able to see who had saved him. She must’ve been a knight of some kind. She was even wearing armour. At least, it _looked_ like armour. It was only when she turned around and knelt in front of him that he felt a slight twinge of surprise, mixed with recognition.

“Senpai! I heard you screaming, are you hurt?” she asked anxiously.

The lilac hair, with some of it covering her right eye. Didn’t he see her before? His thoughts were getting fuzzier and harder to pick apart. Why was she calling him that?

Her eyes swept over his body, her expression one of tense analysis. “I’m not seeing any injuries on you...” she remarked, her hand reaching out and touching his chest. In response, he let out another cry of agony, a fresh sharp stab going through him. Her hand recoiled from him, panic sweeping over her face. “Possible internal injuries! Senpai, where does it hurt?!” she continued, acting more like a medical professional than the knight who’d just slain a member of the undead.

Izuku clenched his eyes tight, trying to think of how best to describe what was happening to him. “Every...” he began, before giving a sharp cough. He didn’t feel anything come up, so at least he wasn’t bleeding internally. “...every...where...” he managed to utter, even though that barely covered it. He felt like needles were piercing every section of his body, like he’d gone to the worst acupuncture artist there was, and every movement or contact with anything just brought that pain screaming back.

The girl looked confused for a moment, but was replaced by a serious expression as she tried to take control of the situation. “That may be the result of a head injury. A possible concussion, or worse...” she said aloud, but seemed to realize she shouldn’t have, as she hurriedly moved on. “Can you stand?” she asked.

Izuku opened his eyes again, and noticed that the girl was holding both of her hands out, the shield now strapped to her back. In response to her question, he instinctively reached out and clasped both of her arms. “Let...let me try...” he asked. He felt her own hands hold his forearms, which just sent new shockwaves through his body, but he forced himself to ignore it. He shifted one leg up, his foot making contact with the ground. He yelped in pain again, as his leg shook beneath him.

“It’s OK, Master. I’m right here. You can do it.” the girl said to encourage him. Now she was calling him ‘Master’? What could possibly possess her to say that? Questions for later, if he made it.

Izuku pushed up with his leg, and felt his nerves scream in torture, almost as much as he did. He tried to force his own shout back, but it pushed its way through his clenched teeth anyway. He shifted his other leg, pressing his foot against the ground, and pushed up as well. Another growl of anguish, but he persevered, and he had managed to at last stand.

The girl let out a grateful sigh. “Good, you did it. Now, we’ll-” she began to say, but Izuku didn’t give her the chance to finish, as he suddenly fell forward, his head making contact with her shoulder and almost his entire weight pressed against her chest.

She made a noise of embarrassed protest. “S-Senpai?!” Her only reply was Izuku’s shaky and exhausted breathing. He felt his strength was nearly gone. He struggled just to stay conscious, for the moment unaware of the social faux pas he’d just committed. Which was good, because if he was aware he’d probably pass out anyway.

The girl wrapped her arms around his back as gently as she could to keep him steady. She heard him make a slight grunt, as even that seemed to hurt him, but other than that he simply stayed there, trying to catch his breath again.

“I-It’ll be OK, Senpai...you’re going to make it...”

Izuku heard her say that, but could feel his senses drifting away again. Following that, he thought he heard the sound of static. There was another voice, a male this time. Did he know them? He heard the girl talking to him, but couldn’t make out their entire conversation. The word ‘Rayshift’ was uttered, as well as ‘Master’ again. What was that? Why did she say that again? ‘Injuries’ were mentioned too, no doubt his. Whatever it was that happened to him, he wasn’t entirely sure he could recover from it. He hadn’t felt so _weak_ before, and he couldn’t stand it.

He must’ve faded in and out of consciousness, because the conversation seemed to go on for too long and ended too quickly at the same time. He felt the girl shift against him, as if trying to push him up again. For his part, he groaned and started to lift his head, trying to force his legs to support his weight.

“OK, Master. We’re going to have to start moving again. Please, try to walk.” the girl asked. There was ‘Master’ again. ‘Senpai’ was an odd decision, but that epithet just made him feel uncomfortable. What the hell had he signed on for? He did his best to do as she asked, lifting his head a bit more to actually see again.

Before he could even register what he’d done, he saw the shape moving behind her. His eyes widened and he started to force his throat to work.

“B...” he started.

“Master, I know you’re in a lot of pain, but we have to move.” she responded obliviously.

“B...behind...” he tried again.

There was a pause, then the girl spoke with a slightly suspicious tone. “Master, were you staring at my-”

“Behind you!” Izuku finished, not giving her the chance to complete that accusation.

The girl turned her head, and true to Izuku’s word, another skeleton had wandered closer to them, rusted sword raised. She pushed Izuku back, hoping for the moment that he could at least stand on his own, then reached back and drew her shield again. She thrust it forward, the round middle clashing against the skeleton’s chest, sending it stumbling backwards. Acting quickly, she swung the low edge forward, catching it against the skeleton’s legs. They flew right off of the body, clattering against the ground a few feet away, sending the rest of the skeleton downward. For good measure, she lifted the shield up over her head, and with a cry drove the edge down, smashing it against the skull and causing it to shatter into pieces.

As quickly as the combat began, it was over. Indeed, Izuku was still standing at the end of it, and his eyes were still wide, only now he wore an expression of awe. Whoever this girl was, she was _amazing._

The girl lifted her head and looked forward, a chill soon running through her. That one skeleton was just a scout. She could see many more ahead of them, and it wouldn’t be long before they reached them. She couldn’t hold against them forever, especially not with her newfound Master barely holding on. So the only option left was retreat.

She propped her shield on her back again, then turned and walked over to Izuku. Before he could say anything, she suddenly scooped him up in her arms. Izuku let out a surprised yelp in response, and a brief blush ran across her cheeks. “S-Sorry! Please excuse me, but we have to go!” With that, she started to run, carrying him as if he weighed nothing.

Izuku watched her with dazed awe, especially as she deftly and easily ran through the ruined city in search of safety. It was only now that things finally began to make sense for him. She was a Hero, she must be. She was far stronger and faster than the average person, that much was clear. She saved his life too, even at the risk of her own. Who else but a Hero would do that? The explosion that happened at that facility must’ve just been one in this city, wherever it was. She must be one of the local Heroes. Although it was incredible she even was, since she looked to be close to the same age as him. Maybe the rules for becoming an official Hero were different in this place.

That didn’t explain the usage of ‘Senpai’ and ‘Master’, however. Why would she call him senpai when he wasn’t a Hero? He _couldn’t_ be a Hero, after all. Had she just made a mistake? ‘Master’ was much more confusing, but he’d have to ask her about that later.

As they ran, the scenery opened up more to Izuku, and the terror of the situation began to sink in more. The fire seemed to stretch on and on the further they went, with no signs of stopping or slowing down. A few times the girl had to stop in her dash and change direction, as the flames had spread out to block her path. The buildings looked to be modern, what remained of them. They must’ve been in the main district of the city, as the majority of them were stores and skyscrapers. The buildings that weren’t surrounded by flame were crumbling and falling apart, with even the tallest ones having holes blown into them, and some threatening to fall over completely.

What could have done this? It must have been a Villain attack of some kind. That was the only explanation that made sense to Izuku. A simple terrorist bombing wouldn’t reach this far. For the Villains to go _this_ far, however, was astonishing to him. Weren’t there enough Heroes to go around here? The damage was insurmountable. This city might not ever recover from this.

If only All Might was here. He could’ve fixed this right away. Were they too far away for him to get to?

The girl finally came to a stop after ducking behind one of the destroyed skyscrapers. She paused to listen for any signs of enemies. When she seemed satisfied, she knelt down. “OK Master, I’m going to put you down now.”

True enough, she did just that. Izuku winced and hissed as his body made contact with the ground, but he didn’t protest any more than that. The girl was very concerned as she watched him. “It still hurts...?” she asked.

“Y-Yeah...but it’s OK...” Izuku answered. He turned his head to look at her again, allowing himself to tilt his head slightly in as good of a bow as he could manage right now. “Thank you...” he added.

The girl smiled softly, giving a slight shake of her head. “There’s no need to thank me, Master. It’s my job to protect you. You being safe is all that I need.”

Izuku looked uncomfortable again after that. The statement was exactly what a Hero would say, but what she called him...before he could even think of how to word it, he was already saying it.

“Why do you keep calling me Master...? It’s...really weird...”

The girl blinked, a look of slight surprise crossing her face, before she likewise looked uncomfortable. “D-Do you not like it? Would you prefer I went back to calling you Senpai?”

Izuku shook his head slightly, but added: “Why are you calling me that too...? D-Didn’t we just meet...? How am I your senpai at anything...?”

This earned another look of confusion, only mixed with slight hurt. Izuku winced, more out of guilt this time. He must’ve insulted her somehow without realizing it. Great way to treat the girl who saved your life. He quickly spoke up again: “S-Sorry, I just really don’t understand-”

“Short-term memory loss...” she interrupted, looking worried all over again. “If only I’d noticed while we had contact with the doctor...” she added, admonishing herself for her mistake.

This all only served to confuse Izuku further. Before he could ask anything, the girl leaned forward slightly. Instinctively, Izuku leaned back, although he regretted it as another twinge of pain shot through him. The girl stared right into his eyes, and Izuku noticed idly that her own eyes were almost the same colour as her hair, just a bit of a deeper shade. She wore that concerned expression, and asked in a similar tone:

“Senpai? Do you recognize me? At all?”

It was a rather odd question, but come to think of it, he did a bit. They had met before, hadn’t they? How had that happened?

His head ached from the effort, but Izuku did his best to remember.

\-----------------------------------------

**(Hours prior)**

Izuku wondered just how he had gotten himself into this mess. Well, he knew, but it wasn’t like he could’ve predicted how it’d all go.

He had decided after that fateful encounter to do something substantial, mostly just to make up for how rotten he felt. Fortunately for him, there was a blood drive going on in town. It wasn’t much, but knowing he was saving lives by donating did help him feel useful again. Being a type O meant that they desperately needed him, and on some small level it was nice to feel needed. What was less nice was suddenly being accosted a couple of days later, finding out the drive was actually a front for a security organization in another part of the world, and that he’d basically been drafted into working for them. What the drive’s real purpose even was wasn’t explained to him, nor what it was that he’d really be doing. All he was told was to come along, with the veiled implication that he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

His poor mother looked like she was about to faint when he came home with two men in black suits. That did seem to force their hand, however, and they offered a bit more of an explanation. Chaldea was a government-supported organization that was more or less an observatory. They couldn’t say where it was, or what they were observing, or why they were called a security organization, but saying that it was all top-secret was enough to get both Izuku and his mother to clam up. They tried to look at this optimistically, that it would be a very well-paid job and Izuku would be doing some good, even if he was a lot younger than he expected to be before ending up with a job. He did want to help, of course. He just wished they could’ve gone about it a different way.

His mom wasn’t happy that both her son and her husband were working abroad, but it gave Izuku some purpose beyond the dream he kept trying to pursue, so she relented. She’d have Mrs. Bakugou to talk to, at least. Just as long as Kacchan didn’t-

No use thinking about him now. Wherever he was, at least Izuku was far enough away from him.

Izuku shuffled his way along the pristine silver halls that made up the paths of Chaldea. His hand was placed against the wall to support himself as he walked. It brushed over the symbol painted on the wall. A stylized ‘C’, looking like a wave of water, encircled by a crown of branches. The insignia of Chaldea.

He really had no idea what he’d been in for. The Director had bombarded him with so much information that he was still trying to process it all. He could barely make heads or tails of any of it, mostly because he just felt so _tired._ Whether it was the jet lag just getting out here, or that strange ‘Rayshift’ experiment that they subjected him to, or some combination of the two, he felt like he could collapse at any moment. The Director nearly literally kicked him out of the room because of that.

He was supposed to go find the doctor to get an examination, but stopping to rest for a few minutes couldn’t hurt, right? It wasn’t like anyone else was around, they were all at the meeting. So he stopped and pressed his back to the wall, then slid down it until he was sitting, his legs splayed out beneath him. He gave a long exhale after he did, left to stare at the glass window across from him.

Wherever they were, it was clearly very cold. All he saw since arriving was a snowy landscape, stretching as far as the eye could see. They were very high up too, and the Director had said they were on top of a mountain. At least the sky was clear.

What was he doing here? The Director had referred to him as “the extra recruit” when she looked him over, after he displayed just how woefully ignorant he was of the situation he was in. So was he just there to fill a slot? Did he just get picked at random to have another body on board? So he went to a completely different part of the world for a job, and nobody actually expected him to be of any use.

It figured. Nothing had changed at all.

“Fou!”

That was a strange sound he’d just heard. It was a light, squeaky sound, sort of like an animal’s cry. He turned his head to where the sound came from, and found that he was right. Only it was not like any animal he’d ever seen.

If it was meant to be a dog, it was the smallest dog he could think of. It looked more like the size of a squirrel, or a small rabbit. Yet it was covered in white luxurious fur, like it was taken care of by a professional dog trainer. The top of its head had yet more of it, and it draped back and over its head like long wavy hair. Its tail was much the same, a long puffy thing that swished back and forth as the creature stared at him. Its eyes weren’t like a typical dog’s, though. He was pretty sure they didn’t have eyes of almost pure violet. Most dogs didn’t have long pointed ears, either; that just drew the rabbit comparison again.

Izuku stared at the creature for a moment, then without thinking replied. “Hi...?”

It wasn’t as if the creature could understand him, right? Well, so he thought, because it gave another squeaky bark in return. “Fou!” Whatever it was, it was seemingly pretty smart.

Again, without thinking, Izuku held out a hand, inching it cautiously towards the creature. When it got close enough, it leaned forward onto his fingertips, rubbing its chin along them. Getting the message, Izuku lightly scratched under its chin, which it seemed to appreciate, its tail wagging faster. It let out another light cry, this one more of a “Kyauuu!”, emphasizing its appreciation.

Izuku smiled gently. “You’re a friendly one, aren’t you?” he queried. The creature responded by moving around his hand, only to hop up into his lap. It nestled down comfortably there, but after a second it turned its head to look up at Izuku expectantly. He stared back, but chuckled lightly and moved his hand down, gently stroking the creature’s back. It cried softly again, another “Kyauuu...”, thankful for the gesture.

“Were you lonely?” he asked it. The creature gave no reply, simply leaning into his petting. He moved his other hand to scratch its chin again, but rather than give him the chance, the creature’s small tongue flicked out and licked at his fingertips. He gave another chuckle in response, tickled by its action. “Maybe you thought I was lonely?”

The creature stopped its licking at this question, turning its head to look at Izuku again. “Fou!” it cried out. Was that meant to be a yes?

Izuku noticed at this point that it had a cape tied around its neck. It was hard to spot since the outside was as white as its fur, but the inside was of a sky blue, and it was only when it turned its head that he could see it. Someone must be the creature’s owner, then. Guess he had to keep it company until the owner arrived. Not that he minded, of course.

The creature moved so that it was fully facing Izuku, two of its paws placed on his chest as he stared up at him. Izuku was still smiling all the while, both of his hands now lighting rubbing the sides of its head. The creature closed its eyes and hummed gently, especially when Izuku started scratching behind its ears. “Fooou!” was its only response.

Izuku chuckled again. “So, do you have a name? Or should I just call you Fou?”

“That’s what I call him, anyway.”

Izuku blinked when he heard the female voice. He looked up from Fou to see the owner, as the girl in question stood across from him, partially blocking the light from the outside window. He could see her lilac hair, part of it draping over her right eye, but it didn’t hide the small round glasses she wore. Her outfit was a little unusual, some strange fusion of formal and ordinary. A black dress that ended in a slightly flared skirt, with black leggings beneath it, but with a collar and red tie, and a white and grey hoodie covering her top half. It was almost like she was trying to hide herself, or appear as nondescript as possible, but she wasn’t sure how to.

The girl leaned forward with a smile, then patted her own legs, getting Fou’s attention. “Come on, Fou. You shouldn’t bother others, you know that.” she said softly.

Fou let out a short cry of protest, before hopping up and landing on Izuku’s shoulder. It turned its head and stared at the girl, crying out again. “Fou! Fou!”

Izuku wasn’t sure what was going on, but he looked back to the girl and wore a nervous smile, lightly waving his hand while putting the other on Fou’s back. “I-It’s OK! He’s not being a bother, I promise!” At the same time he moved to stand up again, keeping Fou steady as he got to his full height.

The girl watched him move up, looking a bit uncertain herself. “It’s nice of you to say that...but you don’t have to defend him.” she answered, sounding disbelieving. “He’s supposed to stay with me, but he keeps wandering off...”

“R-Really, it’s alright. He’s been-” Izuku started to answer, only to feel Fou hop up again, this time landing on his head. He felt the creature stand there for a moment, before nestling down in his hair, a light cry leaving its mouth. Izuku gave an awkward laugh before continuing. “He’s been very nice...”

The girl watched this display with an expression of slight surprise, a sentiment she echoed when she spoke again. “That is rather strange...Fou isn’t normally this friendly with strangers. There must be something he likes about you.”

Izuku blinked, now just as surprised as her. “Really?” he asked. The girl nodded, then took a step closer, reaching up to his head.

“Come on Fou, that isn’t a nest or a bed. He has somewhere to be right now.” she said while grasping at Fou. He protested in reply, though it was more of a resigned “Foooou...” this time.

It was only when the girl had gotten that close, having to stand on her tiptoes just a bit to reach Fou, Izuku nearly nose-to-nose with her, that it finally dawned on him.

He was talking to a girl.

He.

Was talking.

To a _girl._

As the girl pulled back, she saw that Izuku’s face was now a bright red, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open in shock. She tilted her head, holding Fou in her arms. “Are you alright?” she asked.

Izuku jolted in recognition, waving his hands back and forth as he answered. “Yep! A-Absolutely! T-T-Totally one-hundred percent a-OK! N-No trouble at all! Nothing at all to worry about, p-promise!” Oh God he was screwing it up, stop screwing it up idiot, she’s gonna look at you like you’re insane or a creep or an insane creep! He shut his mouth tight for a second, exhaled through his nose, then tried to change the subject. “U-Um, w-what did you mean, I have somewhere to be?” he hesitantly asked.

The girl was still staring at him with that uncertain look on her face, but did answer after just a moment’s pause. “The infirmary, remember? The Director told you to go see Dr. Roman, so he could check on you.”

Izuku jolted again, suddenly remembering why he was even in the hallway in the first place. “Oh crap! I totally forgot!” he shouted out without thinking. He quickly bowed to the girl, hurriedly giving an apology. “I’m sorry to have bothered you, I’ll get going now! Thank you!”

He straightened up and started to run back down the hall, only to get a few steps before hearing her again.

“Um, excuse me!”

He stopped at the call, turning back to look at her. “Y-Yes?” Had he done something else wrong?

The girl looked a little worried when she regarded him, and soon clarified what was on her mind. “Um...please don’t let what the Director said get to you, OK? She’s got a lot to deal with right now. She doesn’t have anything against you personally.” she explained.

Izuku blinked, definitely surprised by this response. He hadn’t expected this girl to try and comfort him after what happened in there. Had she even been in the room? He must’ve been so nervous that he didn’t even see her. He straightened up after this, rubbing the back of his neck as he answered her. “That’s...I appreciate that, but it’s OK.” he started, wearing a slightly ashamed look on his face that he tried to hide behind a smile. “I know I’m just here because they needed an extra pair of hands. The Director doesn’t have a reason to expect much of me, so...I understand why she’s upset. I just have to try and do better from now on, that’s all.”

The girl was staring at him with a slightly shocked expression. Had he said something else wrong? Seemingly not, as she replaced that look with a soft, comforting smile. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Senpai.” she responded, her voice equally as soft and warm. “Whatever your reason for being here, I’m sure you’ll be a great help to us all.”

If comfort was what the girl was going for, it certainly worked. Izuku felt his face heating up again, but that warmth was more evenly spread, and he felt his chest flutter a little bit. Whoever this girl was she must be the nicest person in this entire facility. At least, to him she certainly was, for all of the short time he’d been there. “...thank you...” was all he could give in an awed voice.

The girl’s smile grew a little bit, only to disappear when Fou cried out again with another “Fou!”. She blinked at him, then looked over her shoulder. “Oh! Right, I need to get back!” she hurriedly said. She looked back to Izuku, bowing her head slightly. “It was nice meeting you! I’ll see you later!” she added, before turning and running back the way she came, only looking back to wave at him as she ran.

Izuku likewise lifted his hand and waved back, calling to her as she ran. “Y-Yeah! See you later!” He watched as she turned the corner and disappeared, and almost as soon as she was gone, he let out a shaky exhale and fought the urge to jump for joy.

He talked to a girl! And he didn’t make a complete idiot of himself either! And she was so _nice_ too! She wanted to talk to him again-oh God she wanted to talk to him _again!_ How was he going to handle that?! He was going to totally screw that up and come off like the biggest dork who ever lived and she’d laugh at him and-

No, no! None of that! Things are going good for once! He just had to stay positive and things would keep going that way! He wouldn’t screw up with her again! Hell, maybe she _liked_ dorks! Yeah, this would be fine! He turned and resumed running down the hall, still feeling elated at what had just transpired. His earlier worries and self-admonishment were gone. Sure, maybe he was at the bottom of the ladder and the rest of the workers either didn’t care about him or disliked him, but one really nice girl seemed to like him! So this whole venture was already a step up from school! Sure, he didn’t even know her name yet, but it wasn’t like she was hard to miss!

Wait.

He stopped running again, something the girl said to him sticking out in his mind.

“Senpai...?” he uttered aloud.

What a strange thing to call a total stranger.

\--------------------------------------------

**(Now)**

The memories slowly flowed back into Izuku’s mind of that first fateful meeting. With that came what occurred after. The explosion in the meeting room. The fire and rubble everywhere he could see. Finding the girl among the wreckage. Trying in vain to free her. Holding her hand as death came for them both.

He blinked a couple of times, not taking his eyes away from hers. “...Mash...Kyrielight...?” he said hesitantly.

Mash gave a clear sigh of relief, her eyes closing after. “Thank goodness, you remember that much at least...” she whispered. She opened her eyes again, giving Izuku that soft smile he now remembered from earlier. “Yes, my name is Mash Kyrielight. I’m an agent of Chaldea, originally assigned to Team A for the purposes of Rayshifting into the past to dispel any Singularities that threaten humanity.” she explained. Unaware of the baffled look on Izuku’s face, she continued. “And you are Midoriya Izuku. Or, well, Izuku Midoriya, as I’d say it. I’m glad to meet you properly, Senpai. Even if the circumstances could be better.”

That was a lot to take in, to say the least, but Izuku noticed one important bit in the midst of all of that. “It’s...it’s nice to properly meet you too, but...” he started, hesitating for just a moment, before adding: “You didn’t actually answer either of my questions...”

Mash blinked once, a small confused sound leaving her, before her cheeks flushed lightly out of embarrassment. “R-Right, sorry! I-I was just so worried about you, I didn’t think...” she admitted.

Izuku tried not to think about how Mash actually looked very cute while embarrassed like that (which was asking for the impossible) but thankfully she helped there by speaking up again. “You see...I’m a designer baby.” she explained.

Which wasn’t actually an explanation at all, as Izuku’s baffled and slightly disturbed expression showed. “...c-come again?” he managed to get out. What in the hell did that mean? It brought up a lot of questionable implications, but thankfully he didn’t have the wherewithal to voice any of them.

Mash frowned slightly, then tried again. “What I mean is...I was created in Chaldea’s laboratory by its founder, Marisbury Animusphere. I was made for the purpose of housing a Heroic Spirit, and thus became the first ever Demi-Servant. That is what a ‘designer baby’ is, essentially.” she finished. For a moment, she let this set in, then wore that light smile again as she added: “As such, I’m not exactly human. So, when it comes to being a human and acting as one, you are my senpai.”

This did clear up some questions, except it came with adding yet more. Izuku was definitely curious about what a ‘Heroic Spirit’ or a ‘Demi-Servant’ was, but there was a bigger issue to address now, which he wasted little time doing. “So, wait...because you were made in a lab...you think you aren’t human?”

The question definitely caught Mash off-guard, as her eyes widened slightly before giving a hesitant answer. “I...it’s not exactly a matter of what I _think_...”

“But...you look human.” Izuku interjected before she could continue. “You sound human. You act human.” he continued. He then placed a hand on his own chest, ignoring the twinge of pain the act provided. “And you saved my life. What’s more human than that?” he concluded, as if what he said was the most obvious thing in the world.

The way Mash looked at Izuku after that he could’ve sworn she thought he’d dropped to his knees and hailed her as a goddess descended from the heavens. She had so much surprised joy behind her eyes alone that it was clear he had paid her the biggest compliment he could have, and he hadn’t even _tried_ to. In fact, for a moment Izuku could’ve sworn he saw pinpricks of tears in her eyes. She turned her head away from him, speaking in a shaky voice as she tried to calm herself. “Th-That’s w-wonderful of you t-to say, Senpai! B-But there’s still a lot I-I don’t understand about being...well, human! I-I’m hoping I can learn, a-and if you’d teach me when this is all over...!”

Izuku felt that one thought bubbling up in his brain that he needed to spoil her rotten with compliments if they both lived through this. If only to make her this overjoyed again. He naturally tried to force that thought back into the recesses of his mind, but it quickly latched onto something else and turned into another thought instead. Namely that Mash definitely wasn’t wearing what she had on when they first met. Aside her glasses having mysteriously disappeared, the armour that he thought she was wearing turned out to not quite be that on closer inspection. It was more like a deep blue spandex that covered her torso, arms and legs. There was an armoured skirt around her waist, which made sense. Her feet ending in heels, on the other hand, didn’t really. The exposed midriff made even less sense from a practical point of view.

It wasn’t like Izuku had never seen an outfit like that before. Most Heroes wore tight, form-fitting outfits, that was part of the job. One only had to say ‘Midnight’ and the bar was pretty much set. It was very different to have someone wearing an outfit like that and be just inches away from him, however.

“A-Anyway, I should also explain-” Mash began, turning to look back at Izuku, only to see that he had suddenly turned his head away from her. Worried, she shifted around from his side to his front, trying to peer around to see his face. “Senpai? Are you OK?” she asked.

“Y-Yeah! A-Absolutely! P-P-Perfectly fine!” he responded, trying as hard as possible to keep his face hidden but failing miserably.

“Senpai, your face is all red.” Mash commented, which was followed by a more concerned question. “Do you have a fever? Do you feel ill at all?”

Izuku jolted at the question, turning to face her again and hoping she’d believe him. “No! No no no! No fever at all, p-promise!” That anxious smile was on his face again. Mash wondered just what brought that on.

“Fou!”

Thankfully for Izuku, a familiar cry brought this topic to an end. Crawling out from a compartment on the inside of her shield, Izuku saw that ball of white fur leap out, landing in his lap again and staring up at him. “Fou! Fou!” he cried out, seemingly just as worried about him as Mash was.

“F-Fou?!” Izuku cried out, both because the landing sent another wave of pain through his body, and because he was just surprised. Was he hiding in Mash’s shield all through that fight? The creature paid his question no heed, instead crawling up his chest to his shoulder again, and starting to lick at his cheek. Somehow, that much didn’t actually hurt. He reached up and petted Fou’s back for a moment, before grasping him and pulling him back to look at him. “When did...how did you...?”

He could only give fragmented questions, before his eyes trailed to something else that caught his attention. He placed Fou back in his lap, then looked at the back of his left hand. He saw red markings there, and for a second he wondered if he’d cut himself at some point. He reached over with his right and ran his fingers along them, wincing at another jolt of agony. The markings were still there, as if they’d been burnt in, or tattooed onto his skin. One small circle near the base of his hand, a larger circle around it, and a large V-shape that stretched to his knuckles. It looked almost like a rabbit’s head, he idly thought.

“That is what I was going to explain next.” Mash interjected. Izuku looked up at her in confusion, then back at the markings, as she pressed on. “Those are Command Seals. They are the proof that you’ve been chosen as a Master. As such, while I might only be partially a Servant, a Servant requires a Master, and vice versa. So, I’ve contracted with you.”

Izuku blinked, then his head whipped to face Mash again, shock evident in his expression. “Wait, c-contract? Command Seals?” he asked, just echoing the first terms that didn’t make any sense to him.

Mash let out a light sigh, turning her head away while muttering to herself. “Dr. Roman said you wouldn’t understand a lot of this...”. She turned to look at him again, pointing to the markings and explaining in a matter-of-fact tone. “If you use one of those Command Seals, then the magic within them will compel me to do whatever it is you ask. You only have those three however-”

“Whoa, whoa, hold on!” Izuku interrupted, now looking much more disturbed than before. “I-I don’t want to command or compel you to do anything! A-And how can you say something like that so _calmly?!_ Sh-Shouldn’t you be freaking out or something?!”

Mash blinked in confusion again, as if Izuku had said something totally incomprehensible to her. “That’s...that’s good of you to say, Senpai, but it’s not that...” she started to explain, before she stopped and looked over her shoulder. She stared off into the distance for a moment, then looked back at Izuku, now more serious. “There’s a lot to explain there, but we only have so much time before we’re found. There’s a leyline approximately two kilometres from here. Once we get there, we’ll be able to form a more stable connection with Chaldea. Dr. Roman and I will explain things more after then.”

More terms that Izuku couldn’t wrap his head around, and Mash wasn’t giving him the time to ask. She stood up after this, then held out her hand for him to take. “For now...just look at it as it being my job to protect you. Now, let’s go.” she concluded.

Izuku, without thinking, did take her hand and start to push himself up. However, as soon as he moved he felt his body scream in pain again, a low growl leaving his mouth as he settled back into place. Mash was kneeling in front of him once more, already worrying. “Are you still in pain, Senpai?! Hang on, I’ll carry you again!”

Before she could, however, she suddenly saw Fou pushed into her arms, the animal giving a confused cry to match the expression she was wearing. “S-Senpai...?” she asked anxiously.

Izuku’s head was lowered for a moment, but when he lifted it again, he had a look of weary determination on his face.

“Take Fou and go.”

Mash stared at him after he said that, not sure she could actually believe it. “...w-what...?” she whispered.

Izuku exhaled, followed by a rough cough, then he explained what he meant. “There are other people around here, right...? They need help...and at this rate, I’m only slowing you down...”

“...Senpai, no...” Mash started to protest.

“I’ll...I’ll be OK.” he countered, turning his head to look around him. “I’m sure I can find somewhere to hide from...whatever they are...”

“I’m not leaving you!” she protested again.

“Kyrielight-san...you can find someone else who’s better qualified for this Master thing-” he started, but was cut off by Mash again.

“NO!” she shouted, catching him off-guard, especially as she leaned in closer to him. Fou had leapt from her arms and to her shoulder, giving her hands the freedom to suddenly clasp his. “I don’t _want_ to contract with anyone else! You’re the Master I want, no one else!”

Izuku was so baffled and disturbed by this that he was left with even more questions, but the way Mash exclaimed that and stared at him with that expression of fright at the thought of what he proposed made it hard to argue any further. Even so, he couldn’t comprehend it. “...but... _why?_ I-I don’t understand anything here! I don’t know what’s going on, or half of the things you explained, or how I’m supposed to help you! There...there has to be someone who won’t just weigh you down...” he protested, just as worried for Mash’s life as she was for his.

She looked like she wanted to cry again, but for a totally different reason than before. She closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, then slowly rubbed her hands along his. Somehow, this gesture didn’t hurt either.

“...you held my hand, Midoriya-senpai.” she started, opening her eyes to look at their hands after. “Even with so great a risk, you tried to save me. When that failed, you heeded my selfish request, and held my hands...and you _cried_ for me. That was...I was so _moved_ by that...”. She lifted her head after this, her smile saddened, but present all the same. “What I wished then was that you would live. Someone as nice as you should live on, and not just burn up in that fire. Now, you’re alive, and I can protect you.”. Her hands tightened just slightly around his. His hands still didn’t hurt. “Whatever you might think about Masters and Servants...I promise you, this is what I _want_ to do. Even if you weren’t my Master...I’d want you to be. I’d want to protect you with everything I have.” she resolutely concluded. After a moment’s pause, she lowered her head again, and added: “So...please...don’t ask me to leave you behind...”

Now it was Izuku’s turn to be moved. What he had done in that moment was something he didn’t view as heroic at all. He foolishly tried to save her rather than get someone else to help. He held her hands because he was too weak to do anything else. He cried just as much because she was going to die as he did for failing to save her. He almost wanted to try and downplay what he did, but Mash’s declaration of protection made that impossible to do. No matter what he saw his actions as, she saw them as something worth praising and helping him in turn for. There was still a lot about Masters and Servants and this whole situation that didn’t sit well with him, but her earnest desire to protect him wasn’t something he could find fault in, or try to stop her from doing.

“...OK...” he finally said. Mash lifted her head and smiled widely at him. He couldn’t help but smile back at her. “Thank you...” he added.

Mash nodded, sounding overjoyed when she spoke. “I won’t let you down, Senpai!”

“...I don’t think you ever could...” he remarked without thinking. It did make Mash’s eyes light up in happiness, so it wasn’t a bad thing in the least.

Mash moved to pick him up, but he held out a hand to stop her. “N-No, wait...” he started, then shifted his legs underneath him. “Let me try...”

Mash moved back a little bit to give him room, as Izuku slowly and shakily got to his feet again. He grit his teeth as the waves of torturous pain shot through him, but he forced himself to ignore them. Bit by bit, he rose off of the ground, his legs trembling with each inch shifted. Finally, he stood at as close to his full height as he could manage, Mash having stood alongside him. She watched him with a wide, admiring smile on her face.

Then he took a step forward and nearly fell right over, Mash rushing to catch him before he landed face-first on the ground. Izuku groaned in pain, hanging onto her as he tried to stand again. “S-Sorry...just...need to...get used to this...”

He felt Mash’s arm wrap around his middle, while tucking his arm around her shoulders. Fou was now standing on his hand, watching carefully. “Lean on me for now, Senpai.” Mash suggested. “But if we run into danger, I’m going to have to carry you again. OK?” she added, which Izuku couldn’t really argue against.

“Yeah...alright...” he replied. “Thank you again, Kyrielight-san...”

Mash looked up at him with that smile again, before they started to walk in step. The process was slow, and each step he took sent more jolts of pain up his legs. Worse, if what Mash said was right, they had a long walk ahead of them. He felt Fou run along his arm, then jump up and rest on his head again. He wasn’t sure if it was just him being light or some sort of magic at work, but it didn’t hurt him at all.

Oh, right. Magic. That was apparently real now. There had been so much to try and process that hearing that magic was actually a thing barely registered with him. Something else he’d have to ask Mash about. As well as Rayshifting, and more about this Master-Servant thing, and why he had to have Command Seals, and a lot more. Though, for now, they just had the trek ahead of them.

“...oh, um...Senpai?” Mash suddenly asked.

Izuku turned to look, only to suddenly remember that her face was nearly right against his. Turning away as his face burned red again, he anxiously responded: “Y-Yes...?”

“...you, ah...you don’t have to call me ‘Kyrielight-san’...” she explained. “It’s...a little formal...”

“O-Oh, s-sorry...” he replied. He didn’t think he was, but then again they were from two different cultures. He still didn’t even know where they were, come to think of it. Another question for later. “Then...what would you like me to call you...?” he asked more hesitantly.

“Well...just ‘Mash’ would be OK.” came the answer, said without any worries and just a bit of hopefulness.

“...a-are you sure...?” Izuku sounded even more nervous when he asked this. Sure, it was less formal, but it felt _way_ more familiar than he was ready for.

“I-If it’s not a problem...” she said, sounding like she was already expecting him to say no.

Izuku really couldn’t bring himself to dash her hopes, it seemed. Even if it was a little awkward. “...O-OK...M-M-Mash...” he stuttered out. He had to remind himself again that they were from different cultures, she didn’t view things the same way he did.

He risked a glance over at her at this point, and saw that she was very happy with his reply, even if she wasn’t looking right at him. So yeah, the light surge of embarrassment was worth it.

“...i-if you like, y-you can just call me Izuku too!”

That, on the other hand, was probably not worth it.

Mash actually stopped in her tracks, now looking at him while her own face was heating up. “W-W-Wha-?!”

Izuku tensed up, swiftly realizing he’d done something else he didn’t quite catch. “I-I m-mean...i-it just doesn’t seem r-right for only o-one of us to use th-the first name! S-So...I-I mean, you don’t have to!” he sputtered, trying as hard as possible to salvage this before it got worse.

“I-I...a-ah, w-well, th-that’s very n-nice of you to say!” Mash sputtered back, having quickly looked away from him as her own face shone bright red. “I-I, um...I-I m-might need t-to think about it!”

“Y-Y-Yeah! O-Of course, I understand!” Izuku hurriedly replied.

“Fouuu...” the little animal moaned from atop Izuku’s head.

After this, they had got moving again, but there was definitely a bit more tension in the air.

Izuku thought to himself that this was definitely not what he expected his new job to turn out to be.

If he only knew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The games have begun, folks.
> 
> This is more or less going to follow the same structure as FGO. There'll be changes here and there - as demonstrated here, with Lev nowhere in sight - but how far I'll go is something I'm still mulling over. I'm sure you all have as many questions as Izuku does, but stay with me on this and you'll find it all out.
> 
> Hopefully it's to your satisfaction.


	3. Fuyuki: Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A successful rescue is made. Izuku is given an opportunity to be what he wants to be, though not without consequence.

# Life’s Magic

“So...you’re saying we’ve gone back in time...?”

After a good distance had been covered since their initial departure, Izuku had insisted on trying to walk on his own. While his steps were very unsteady, and it slowed them down a bit more, he was determined to get past this unknown injury of his. Even with the debris and random flames making traversal difficult, he did his best to push through. Considering each step made him want to almost buckle to his knees again, the fact that he was moving at all was surprising.

Mash couldn’t help but admire his drive to persevere through this. That admiration was tinged with concern, however. While his gesture to her in the midst of the explosion was something she’d always cherish, that paired with him attempting to force her away under the pretense of slowing her down made her wonder a bit more about him. What he was doing now only made her thoughts more solid, and allowed a question to present itself in her mind.

Izuku Midoriya. Her senpai. Her Master. Did he place any value on his own life?

The alternative was simply that he didn’t think things through all that much. Which she could believe; he didn’t seem unintelligent, but the amount of things he didn’t know or understand only seemed to grow the longer they spoke to each other. While Rayshifting was a top-secret technique that only Chaldea had access to, Masters, Servants, Magecraft as a whole, and many other things just prompted confusion from him. Dr. Roman had told her that and explained why...but the reasoning he gave was so impossible that she couldn’t actually believe it. Which further necessitated their task to find a leyline and get everything cleared up.

For now, though, she’d do her best to field his questions and keep him up to speed.

“To put it simply, yes.” she replied, walking close to him just in case he ended up falling again. “The process of Rayshifting involves projecting your spirit into the past. The spirit is broken down into Spiritrons, then sent back to the selected point in time, allowing them to continue on with the mission. For this to fully work, a quantum observer is needed to maintain the spirit’s integrity, solidifying its place in the new time. This also works to prevent the Counter Force from considering the new spirit a phantasmal existence, as it would otherwise reject the spirit and erase it from the place and time it was found.”

Izuku had stopped walking, and was staring at Mash with a blank expression. She blinked, then wore an embarrassed expression when she spoke again. “...t-too much?” she anxiously asked.

He flinched at this, then looked embarrassed in turn, rubbing the back of his neck as he responded. “W-Well...I-I mean, I think I got... _some_ of it...?” He took a moment to mull over all of the information given, his hand having moved to his chin as he did. “So...I’m not actually here, but my soul is?”

Mash looked surprised for a moment, then gave a small nod. “In summation, yes.” she replied.

“...but, then how am I touching anything?” Izuku continued, his foot tapping on the ground as he asked. He winced again, lifting his foot and rotating it slightly. “And why am I hurting so much...? Shouldn’t I just phase through solid matter...?”

“It isn’t quite like that, Senpai.” Mash answered. “Converting your soul into this state gives it form and mass. Which is also why you’re still able to feel pain and touch things. It’s as if your body came along anyway.”

Izuku pondered this, humming as his hand returned to his chin. “So...for that to work, the soul would have to have some sort of mass to start with. At least, if this is similar to the three states of matter in science. But wouldn’t the body feel the extra mass of the soul? The fact that the soul is even a tangible thing to begin with is astonishing, but being able to manipulate its form like that just raises so many questions. If that was even possible, though, how hasn’t science been able to detect the soul? Shouldn’t we have made some sort of discovery about it by now? Unless that information has been kept secret, but to what end? What else could you do with a soul if you can have it separate from the body and solidify on its own? Does that do any damage to the body itself? If I can feel pain as if I had a body, then there must still be some sensory feedback done to the body. Unless this is just my mind telling me I should be in pain? If that’s the case...”

Mash watched with a mixture of astonishment and bewilderment as Izuku continued to talk to himself, asking more and more questions in relation to this one piece of information. Fou was still sitting in Izuku’s hair as they had gone on, and the constant muttering had got even him to look down at the boy with as close to a confused expression as he could reasonably manage.

This went on for a few seconds longer, before Mash suddenly spoke up again. “Um, S-Senpai?”

He jolted out of his mutterings, looking to her with a briefly stunned expression, as if he’d just been pulled out of sleep. “H-Huh?” he sputtered for a moment, before looking embarrassed and turning to stare at the ground instead. “S-Sorry...I kinda do that sometimes...”

Mash was quick to shake her head and reply encouragingly. “N-No, it’s OK Senpai! It’s good that you’re asking so many questions too! I was just about to say that we should probably focus on things that I can actually answer...” She was certainly surprised by this new piece of information about him, but she definitely couldn’t fault an inquisitive mind. It reminded her a bit of the detectives in the novels she loved to read, which only made her admiration for Izuku grow a little more.

He looked back up at her while still appearing a little embarrassed, but acquiesced to her point. “R-Right, of course...” He resumed walking after this, again with a hesitant step, then spoke up with that same curious tone. “So...in that case, where and when are we...?”

That was the obvious question, Mash realized. Moving in step with him, she resumed explaining. “This is Fuyuki, a regional city in Japan. It is the year 2004, the time of the Fifth Holy Grail War. Normally, the War was supposed to end in a clear victory for one of the Masters present...but this level of damage was never reported...”

Izuku was now staring at Mash with wide shocked eyes, not expecting that to be her answer. “Fuyuki?” They were back in Japan? So they hadn’t left the country at all? Or, no, had the Rayshifting sent them through space as well? If they could send them through time, it only made sense they could do that too.

“Do you know this place, Senpai?” she questioned. In response, Izuku first shook his head before continuing.

“Not personally, no. I’ve heard of it, but I haven’t ever been myself.” he clarified. “It’s on a different island from Japan’s mainland.” he continued. He then paused in thought for a moment, lifting his head to look around their surroundings. “Didn’t a massive fire hit this city already?” he asked.

“Yes, but that was ten years before this moment.” she explained. “It took some time for the city to recover, but a fire of this magnitude didn’t happen a second time.” she continued. Like Izuku, she turned her head to observe their surroundings, concern appearing on her face. “Not only that, but there’s far more mana in the air than there should be. Something’s changed this place on a deeper level than just this fire.”

She paused for a moment, then turned to Izuku, realizing what she had said. “Ah, mana is-”

“The source of magic?” he interrupted. This prompted another surprised look from her, followed by a cautious reply.

“W-Well...in one sense, yes...it’s the source of magic for the world, and mages make use of it...” she explained. Her eyes then narrowed slightly as she continued. “Senpai...how much do you actually know...?” She wasn’t about to suspect him of anything wrong, but a part of her wondered if he was trying to pull some sort of prank on her by acting oblivious.

He jolted again at her question, definitely feeling like he was suspected of something wrong, hence his quick reply. “I-I’m really just making guesses here! I mean, ‘mana’ has popped up in fiction before, so I just sort of assumed...”

Mash had to admit he had a point; she’d read enough stories to know that the term ‘mana’ was used often in fantasy fiction, as well as ‘magic’ and ‘witchcraft’ and the like. That sort of thing was allowed mostly to let the ordinary people assume it wasn’t real, which helped to keep proper Magecraft a secret. “R-Right, sorry Senpai.” she responded apologetically. “It’s just...it’s really hard to believe you got here while still knowing so little about any of this...” she further admitted.

She hadn’t meant that to be a personal remark against him, but the slightly hurt look on his face indicated that happened anyway. Before she could try to correct it, however, he interjected. “Um...another thing. You said a ‘Holy Grail War’ happened here?” He seemingly wanted to change the subject to avoid focusing on his lack of knowledge, which Mash was fine with following. He pointed down at the ground beneath him, his earlier regret exchanged for that curiosity he displayed before. “So the actual Holy Grail is real? And it was _here_ , in Fuyuki?”

Mash again started to answer, but before she could, they would both hear a loud scream rip through the night air. They turned to the source and found that it came from further ahead, likely at their destination.

“Someone’s in trouble!” Mash declared. Izuku nodded, and quickly shouted to her in turn.

“Go help her!”

She turned to look at him, already worried at what he suggested and what his reasoning could be. “But-” she started to protest, but he placed a hand on her shoulder and answered in a firm tone.

“I’ll catch up! _Go!_ ”

She was still troubled, but she gave a short nod in understanding. She turned to face ahead and broke into a run, hopping over any debris that got in her way. She spared a moment to look behind her, and was thankful to see that Izuku was keeping his word and following her, albeit at a more hobbled pace.

Maybe she had been wrong to think of him the way she had. He wasn’t cavalier with his life, he just put other lives ahead of his. That was what heroes did, and she couldn’t have been more thankful to form a contract with someone like him.

She just hoped he could live long enough to realize that.

\-----------------------------

The woman recoiled in horror as the skeleton approached her. It made no sound, only enhancing the nightmarish nature of this encounter. Its bones clacked as it touched the earth, inching closer to her, its jaw hanging loosely from its mouth.

She was exhausted, both from running and from trying to fend for herself. Her Gandr shots had taken out...six? Seven? She wasn’t keeping good track but it felt close to that amount. Problem was her energy was depleting, and she couldn’t keep running forever.

“I can’t believe this...” she uttered aloud, not thinking at all about trying to save face here. “How could this happen?! How did I end up here?! Where’s Lev?! I can’t handle this by myself! Damn it!” She kept trying to back away from the approaching threat, only to bump into a wall of concrete behind her, causing her to jolt in realization. The skeleton continued its approach, rusted sword raised.

The woman instinctively held her arms up over her face, already fearing the worst.

She then heard a cry from above her, causing her to look up, just in time to see a shape dive down and crash into the skeleton. It crumpled on impact, the bones shattering under the weight of the heavy shield that hit them. The one responsible then stood to her feet, and turned to face the woman.

“Are you-” she started to ask, but her eyes widened when she saw who she had just rescued. “Director?!” she exclaimed.

The Director in turn stared at her saviour, her eyes sweeping over her for a moment before likewise exclaiming: “Mash?!”

Mash took a couple of steps closer, likewise looking over the Director, checking for any injuries. Seeing none of note, she quickly asked: “You Rayshifted as well? I thought we were the only ones!”

“That’s what I should be saying to you!” the Director countered. “And...you’ve...” she started to say, again looking over Mash in her suit of ‘armour’. She raised her head to look at Mash’s face, her eyes wide with recognition. “How did...”

Mash felt just a bit self-conscious under that gaze of hers, responding with a slightly embarrassed tone and trying to downplay what had occurred. “It seems...the Demi-Servant project was a success after all.” she simply concluded.

“I can see that much, Mash!” the Director exclaimed, not willing to just brush this off. “But the question is _how?!_ And why _now_ of all times?! Not to mention, if you’re officially a Servant, that could only happen if you-”

“Mash!” a male voice called out, stopping the Director’s train of thought. Mash looked up to see Izuku atop the small wall behind the Director, thankful that he made it but not expressing as much given the panicked expression on his face. “Two more incoming!” he added.

Mash turned around, and true enough, two more of the skeletons had crept up on her while she was talking to the Director. Her shield still in her hand, she swung it out just in time, one of the skeletons’ swords swinging down to clash against it. She held firm, keeping her shield planted on the ground as it tried in vain to attack again, the rusted blade hitting the iron shield, only to break against it. In response, Mash hefted the shield up and shoved it forward, crashing the round center against the skeleton’s chest and sending it falling back, only to crumble on impact with the ground.

“Mash!” Izuku called out again. He had slid down the wall of debris and landed beside the Director, stumbling after touching the ground and nearly falling over again, but this didn’t stop him from making his point. “Don’t just use your shield! You’re leaving yourself wide open!”

Mash looked at Izuku in surprise after hearing this, then turned to her other side to see the other skeleton nearly about to hit her. Acting fast, she sidestepped the skeleton’s swing, the blade arcing just past her hand. She swung her fist up in response, which smacked against its jaw, hard enough to send its whole head spinning around. While it was stuck doing that, she lifted her shield and swung in the opposite direction, its jaw connecting with the extended edge and sending the head flying right off of the neck. The headless skeleton staggered forward a few steps, before crumpling into another pile at Mash’s feet.

She exhaled out of relief, then turned to Izuku and smiled broadly. “Combat has ended. Thank you, Senpai!”

He gave a wide smile of his own in turn, quick to answer. “You did great, M-Mash!” Setting aside the short stutter at using her first name again, he then turned to the rescued Director. “Hey, are you-” he started to ask, before suddenly freezing up.

The orange-and-black overcoat was a look he’d seen a number of times at Chaldea, seemingly the uniform for the female staff. Though the white dress and auburn stockings underneath it was unique to this woman. More importantly, her long white hair and orange eyes, which held a look of shock and not-even-remotely-restrained irritation when they locked onto Izuku’s, were things that very quickly brought memories rushing back to him.

The Director of Chaldea was not someone he could soon forget.

\--------------------------------

**(Hours prior)**

Izuku was somehow simultaneously dead on his feet and way too nervous to even consider falling asleep.

After the gruelling approval process, getting a white jacket uniform that was a size too big for him, and that strange simulation that he was put through, he was practically shoved into the meeting room with no explanation for what he had to do. Which was not a great way to start his new job.

Worse was when whole rows of other people in similar white uniforms all turned to look at him as he entered the room, a very definite tension in the air. He shivered under their gaze, and quickly lowered his head and started walking in further. He glanced up only to see where he was going, and saw a single spot where a person wasn’t standing in place, hurriedly and stiffly walking to that spot and standing as still as a statue.

Unfortunately for him, that spot was right in the front row. Meaning that he was going to be right in the officials’ line of sight if he did anything wrong, no matter how slight or minute. Which just contributed to him standing at attention like he was about to engage with a drill sergeant. He’d swiftly discover that he was on the money with that assessment.

While he took a second to look around the room, seeing the lines of blue light glowing against the ridged walls, the rows of computers and desks stretching up the stairs he’d just hurried down, and the large glowing ball in the center of the room, his gaze swiftly fell upon the person standing before it. She, in turn, stared disapprovingly at him, her arms folded, one of her fingers tapping her arm impatiently.

“Well, we’re starting a little later than I’d like, but at least everyone’s here now.” she concluded. She moved her glare away from Izuku (much to his relief) and then began speaking to the group as a whole. “Welcome to the special organization Chaldea. I am Director Olga Marie Animusphere.”

Izuku heard a light murmur go through the crowd behind him, but the Director gave them no time to discuss things any further. “Let me make something very clear to you all right now.” she began, her voice hard and unyielding. “We have chosen you to work here based on your rare talents. Whether you are part of a famous magus family, or happened to have hidden potential in Magecraft, you are all here for one express purpose. You are to act as my tools in the protection of humanity. Any previous achievements or lineage you possess mean nothing. Here, _I_ am in charge. You are to do as I say, without any arguments or backtalk.” She paused only for a moment, as her irritation became more evident before she pressed on. “Which means you all need to stop acting like a bunch of school students! This isn’t a social trip, this isn’t some special vacation that your parents paid for! This is a dire situation that threatens the entirety of the human race and you _will_ treat it that way!”

Izuku still trembled as the Director shouted, his utter lack of preparedness hitting him in the worst way right now. Finding out that he was involved in something to protect all of humanity would normally actually make him very happy, since that’s what he wanted to do anyway. Terms such as ‘magus’ or ‘Magecraft’ being used, however, left him confused and increasingly worried. Mentions of lineage or special talents only worsened that, since the former did nothing for him in particular, and the latter was something he definitely didn’t possess. Not that he had time to dwell on this, as a voice suddenly broke through the tense silence that followed the Director’s speech.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” a girl from a few rows back demanded. “We came here because _you_ requested our help! Now you’re going to toss this garbage at us and expect us to blindly obey you?!”

“Yeah!” a male from the other side of the room added. “How can you say our lineage doesn’t mean anything here?! We’re _mages!_ Lineage is the most important thing we have! You think _you_ get to throw all of that aside?!”

What followed was a rising din of more protests and complaints, from nearly everyone else in the crowd. A few, much like Izuku, remained in bewildered silence, but the majority were making it quite clear that blind obedience was not something they were about to even try. For his part, Izuku couldn’t take his eyes off the Director, as he could see her face getting redder and her teeth grinding in frustration. It was only going to be a matter of time before she-

“ _SHUT THE HELL UP!_ ”

-exploded.

Izuku flinched at her outburst, even if it did do the job of silencing the crowd. Olga Marie, in turn, stood there fuming in restrained silence for a few seconds, before closing her eyes and letting out a long exhale. Only slightly calmer, she opened her eyes again and swept her venomous glare across the crowd.

“Alright. Fine.” she started. “You have a problem with how I do things?” She then raised her hand and pointed up at the doors that Izuku had stepped through seconds prior. “There’s the exit! Feel free to head on through it!” she said as a challenge. She held her hand up for a couple of seconds, before her angry expression shifted to a smug smile. “That is...” she began, before folding her arms again. “If you want to try to descend a mountain that sits six thousand metres above sea level, be my guest. Don’t expect to find any planes or boats around to take you home, though.” She let that sink in for a second, before quickly adding: “Oh, but given the sub-zero temperatures outside, you’ll probably freeze to death before you even make it that far.”

Funnily enough, no one felt like protesting anymore after hearing that. Olga Marie swept her gaze across the crowd again, then gave a short nod. “That’s better.” she concluded. She then started to walk forward, resuming her speech as she did. “Let me reiterate. This is a crisis that affects the entire human race. There is no room for dissent or ego here. We all have to be on the same page if we want to survive this. As I am the Director, I’m the one who has to make the difficult decisions around here, and you need to carry them out. If even one of you goes off for your own selfish reasons, we’re all as good as dead.”

Izuku kept his eyes glued to her as she walked, only to realize far too late that she was walking right towards _him._ Which caused him to instead direct his gaze just about anywhere else he could, just in time for her to stop a few inches away from him. She regarded him with a discerning stare, one eyebrow raised, before that slightly smug smirk returned. “You could stand to learn something from this one. Despite being late, he hasn’t said a word since arriving, and judging by the look on his face he understands exactly how dire things are.” she remarked. Her smirk faded after a moment of observation, however, seeing how Izuku was shaking like a leaf, sweating bullets, and pointedly avoiding looking at her. “...you _do_ understand, I hope?” she cautiously asked.

“Yes!” he quickly responded. “C-Completely understand! The utmost crisis that threatens us all and we need to follow your lead _ma’am!_ ” he continued to report, his voice cracking on that last part.

This earned him another raised eyebrow and a slightly bewildered look from the Director. “...I can’t tell if you’re actually being serious or if this is a poorly-timed joke.” she commented. She kept a withering stare on the poor guy for a few seconds more, before simply turning away. “Well, whatever.” She started to walk back to her initial position, giving Izuku just a slight reprieve from stress.

What followed was a lengthy explanation about what their mission was, but unfortunately Izuku couldn’t really claim to understand any of it. Mostly because this was when that bout of exhaustion that had hit him was now using his brain as a punching bag. Try as he might, every time a term he was unfamiliar with came about, his brain would briefly respond with white noise. Whether it was ‘Rayshift’, ‘Singularity’, ‘Spiritrons’ or what have you, it just bounced right off of his brain, and he felt more and more tired as a result.

Which only became a problem when it was clear that someone noticed that.

“ _Hey!_ ” the Director shouted, causing Izuku to jolt again and oh God when she did she end up so close again?! She reached up and snapped her fingers right in front of his nose, prompting another jolt and a short yelp from him. “Look alive! Are you paying attention at all?!”

“Y-Yes ma’am!” he hurriedly responded, now awake all over again. “I-I’m paying attention t-to the best of my ability, ma’am!” he added.

If this was an attempt to soothe matters, it didn’t work, as her eyes narrowed and she sounded more agitated when she spoke. “What do you mean, ‘to the best of your ability’? You have a problem? Am I keeping you up?!” She tilted her head to try to get a better look at his eyes, but he was again aiming them anywhere but at her. So, to solve the problem, she suddenly reached up and grabbed his chin, forcing him to look down at her. He still trembled as he stared into her eyes, his face getting redder in turn. “...ugh, you look terrible. I’m starting to wonder if you’re brain damaged.” she remarked, her tone full of disgust. She let go of his chin, then reached down and snatched up the ID card that was hanging from his neck.

“...Midoriya, Izuku?” she questioned, staring at the ID with his name and a quickly-taken picture on it. She looked back up at him, his face still burning red, before back at the card. “...and since you’re late, you must be the extra recruit. Of course, no one actually properly briefed you...” she said, still thoroughly disgusted, but it seemed like she wasn’t at him so much. She dropped the ID, then gave him a short shove to his shoulder, causing him to stumble out of the spot he was in.

“You’re off the mission.” she concluded, before pointing at the doors at the top of the room. “Go to the infirmary and have Dr. Archaman examine you. Clearly something went wrong with the compatibility test, you’re suffering from the effects of it. Once he’s given you a full medical, head to your room and rest. I don’t need you here if you’re not at one hundred percent, got it?” she ordered.

Izuku looked back at her in response, and for a moment he felt as ashamed as he could get, reflected in his expression. Not that Olga Marie had any reason to care. He straightened up and gave a deep bow. “Yes ma’am! I understand ma’am!”

He turned on his heel and began robotically walking back the way he came. He could hear more mutters from the crowd; not the exact words said, of course, but it wasn’t hard to guess what they were talking about. Just about what a fool and a waste of space he was, that’s all. Which didn’t help the growing feeling of shame boiling up within him, but he wasn’t going to get any sympathy here, so he shouldn’t bother asking.

“Hey!” the Director called as he walked. “When you’re done, tell that slacker to get in here! We need as many hands on deck as possible, and I won’t have any patience for him fooling around!”

\-------------------------

**(Now)**

With that wonderful experience fresh in his mind, Izuku was left to endure Olga Marie’s withering stare once again, only mixed with her face starting to burn red and her teeth starting to grind. If last time was any indication, he had only a few seconds to try and diffuse this.

“Um-”

“ _You?!_ ” she shouted, stopping Izuku’s attempt at peacemaking in what was a (thankfully) smaller explosion than before. Her expression changed to one of incredulity, suddenly reaching forward and grabbing him by the collar to pull him down to her eye level, which had the unintended effect of prompting a yelp of protest from both him and Fou atop his head. “Of all the people who could’ve shown up, how is it you?!” she demanded, as if expecting him to actually have an answer.

“I’m-” he tried again, but Olga Marie wasn’t finished.

“And hang on!” she interrupted, before looking over at an equally-stunned Mash, then back to Izuku. She let go of his collar, only to suddenly reach down and snatch up his hand. This naturally prompted a yelp from him, and his face getting even redder than before, but when he looked down he soon realized she was just looking at those Command Seals. “ _You_ became her Master?! How is that possible?!” she again demanded, whipping her head up to glare at him. “Only a top-class mage can become a Master, so how did someone like you pull that off?!”

“I-”

Once again, Olga Marie wouldn’t give him the chance to talk. She let go of his hand, only to grab his collar and yank him down again. “Well?!” she started, now sounding outright accusing when she shouted. “What did you do?! What did you say to her to convince her to do something this dumb?! Did you coerce her?! Blackmail her?! Threaten her?! Answer me!”

That part actually stung quite a bit, even if it wasn’t clear with how terrified Izuku looked right now. Was this really so impossible that the first assumption would be that he forced the contract? He shook his head rapidly in response, but this time his voice had died in his throat, the barrage of questions and accusations having sapped his will to speak.

Fortunately, Mash hurried over and tried to pry Olga Marie’s hands off of him. “Director, please, calm down! Senpai didn’t do anything to me, I forged the contract myself!” she quickly explained, Izuku’s panic having got to her a bit too.

The Director let go and took a step back, but directed her shock at Mash instead. “ _You_ forged it?! Why in the world would you do that?! You saw him at the meeting, it was fortunate that he was even standing!” she retorted. She then jabbed a finger in his direction, adding: “Hell, he still looks like he’s liable to fall over any second now!”

“B-Be that as it may, there was no other choice!” Mash replied. “He and I were the only ones to Rayshift, and if I didn’t forge a contract with him, it was likely we would both die. It was a gamble, but I can confirm that it has paid off.” she added, taking on a calmer tone in the hopes that Olga Marie would finally relax in turn.

It was a pragmatic viewpoint, and Izuku understood that. He had no reason to doubt Mash’s earlier reasoning for forming a contract with him, but it was obvious the Director wouldn’t accept that explanation. She looked annoyed regardless, but when she spoke there was a tinge of acceptance in her voice. “...well, the results do speak for themselves, I’ll grant you that, Mash.” she concluded. After a moment, however, she added: “Unfortunately, you may be more right than you thought. I haven’t seen any of the other Master candidates since arriving here. Considering how many were brought on, that can only lead me to assume that they didn’t Rayshift at all.”

Mash’s eyes widened in surprise. “None of them?” she asked. “So it really is just the three of us...?”

“It’s my best guess.” Olga Marie responded. “The Coffins that we use to Rayshift normally have a safety feature installed. If the subject’s stability drops even slightly below ninety-five percent, the Coffin will shut down and cancel the Rayshift. However, we were not in Coffins when the process began. Rayshifting flesh-and-blood bodies is rare, but not impossible.” she concluded.

She then looked over to Izuku, then rolled her eyes. “Midoriya, I swear, you’re killing me with that dumbfounded expression of yours.” she sniped in an exasperated tone.

This prompted him to jolt and stand at attention again. “Y-Yes! S-Sorry ma’am!”

Olga Marie stared distastefully at him, before directing her gaze upwards at Fou. For his part, the creature answered with an annoyed “Fou!” in her direction. She turned away, placing both hands on her face and moaning. “Our first ever Rayshift and my team is the extra recruit, the Demi-Servant, and the team pet...” She moaned in despair again, before pulling her hands away and taking in a deep breath to try and calm herself. “It’s OK...this is fine...I can salvage this...” She exhaled the breath, then turned to Izuku again, all business. “Midoriya?”

He tensed up, feeling the pressure she was putting on him. “Y-Yes?!”

“You remember the beginning of my speech, right?” she asked. “About what your purpose is?”

“U-Um...t-to be your tool to protect humanity?” he hesitantly answered.

“Good. You’re not a lost cause yet, then.” she retorted. Before he could ask for clarification, she held up her own left hand, making her order clear.

“Transfer Mash’s contract to me.”

Izuku blinked, for a moment not even sure if he heard her right. He looked down at the marks on his hand, then up at her. “Y-You want me to what...?”

“D-Director!” Mash protested, but Olga Marie didn’t heed her.

“Transfer the contract. I’ll be Mash’s Master.” she clarified. She then narrowed her eyes, realizing something crucial. “Wait...you don’t have any idea how to do that, do you?” she queried.

“W-Well, no, but-” Izuku began to explain, but he was yet again cut off.

“Fine, it’s a simple process. Just repeat after me.” Olga Marie began. Before she could continue, however...

“I’m not doing it!”

Both Izuku and Olga Marie turned to look at Mash, who was giving the Director a highly upset expression at the prospect of losing her contract with Izuku. The Director looked more baffled than anything else, and responded incredulously to her. “What do you mean?! This is the best solution for everyone! You yourself even said that you only made a contract with him because there was no one else!”

“Th-That was a reason, but it wasn’t the _only_ reason!” Mash clarified. “With all due respect Director, I chose Midoriya-senpai as my Master, and I’m not giving that up for anyone! Not even you!” she added, an anxious determination in her voice.

Olga Marie looked like Mash had just told her that she smelled like a dung heap in front of an entire classroom; equal parts stunned and furious. She turned to fully face the Demi-Servant, soon letting her utter disbelief be known. “Have you completely lost your mind?! I don’t know what happened between you two, but this is not the time to get sentimental!” She gestured to Izuku as she said this, as if expecting Mash to take a proper look at him. “He looks like just standing on his own two feet is painful! Having to hold a contract with a Servant, even if you’re only half of one, is obviously too much for him!”

“Th-That’s for me to decide!” Mash countered. “Even if he’s not at his best right now, I know he’s the right candidate for me! He’s trying his best in these circumstances and that means everything!”

“Oh for-” the Director started, before shifting gears and responding angrily. “’Trying his best’ doesn’t mean a damn thing right now! We’re all at risk here and we need to act for the better of all of us, not just him and not just you!”

“It isn’t selfish to want to give him a chance!” Mash retorted. “And he’s already proven to be a natural! He directed me in that last fight perfectly!”

“A lucky call against a walking skeleton isn’t proof that he’s a capable Master!” the Director answered. “When we end up fighting other Servants he’s not going to have any idea what to do!”

“You don’t know that he won’t!”

“And you don’t know that he will!”

Izuku watched as the two continued to argue back and forth, left to contemplate how this was all over who Mash would be more or less forced to work under for the foreseeable future. Considering it seemed like they weren’t about to hear his thoughts on the matter, he had the time to...well, actually decide his thoughts on the matter.

On the one hand, he could understand the Director’s pragmatic viewpoint. She was an accomplished mage, he technically wasn’t even a mage to begin with. Which made her question about how he even became a Master more pertinent. Regardless, he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. His earlier call to Mash on how to fight had worked, but if they encountered other Servants, would he know what to do? Transferring control over to someone with more experience in this did make sense.

On the other hand, he knew how much the contract meant to Mash. She told him she made the choice herself. She wanted to be contracted to him, and no one else. He had no reason to disbelieve her, and he didn’t want to let her down. She was putting her faith in him in this way, and to turn around and abandon her in response felt wrong. Even if he didn’t like the idea of holding a metaphorical leash like this.

So in the end, he really didn’t know what to do about this. From the looks of things, the two of them were going to keep arguing for a while.

Which was a bit of a problem, what with the other skeletons approaching.

Izuku saw them walking down the path leading to the little nook in the concrete they were in, his eyes widening at the numbers. Three, four, five...no, more than that, for certain.

“Guys?” he said, trying to get their attention. It was to no avail, however, as they continued to go back and forth.

“I can’t believe that you’re actually disobeying me now, of all times!”

“I’m sorry, but pulling rank on me isn’t going to make me change my mind!”

“Guys?!” Izuku tried again, seeing the skeletons getting even closer.

“Just when the hell did you actually find your spine?!”

“When you thought you could just bargain for me like I was a piece of property when I’ve finally made a choice for myself!”

Still no such luck. The skeletons drew nearer and nearer, just one step away from reaching the two of them.

There was no time left.

Izuku’s body moved independent of his thought. He dashed forward, pushing past Olga Marie in the process.

She turned to shout at him. “Midori-” Her shout was cut off when she saw what was approaching.

“Senpai?!” Mash added, reaching back for her shield, a few seconds too late.

Reaching the first skeleton, Izuku reared his right arm back, his hand balled into a fist.

He didn’t see the lines of light arcing across his skin. He didn’t think of whether or not this would even work. He didn’t consider the danger he was putting himself in.

All that ran through his mind was a singular, simple thought.

_Save them._

His fist connected with the skeleton’s head. The skull splintered, then shattered from the blow, almost like a balloon popping. The force of it sent the skeleton’s body flying backwards, the shockwave blowing its body apart.

As it did for the skeleton behind it. Then the two behind it. Then the others behind those. So, in mere seconds, the entire regiment of moving skeletons were blasted to pieces, their bones and bone fragments left to clatter against the ground.

Mash’s eyes were wide with shock and utter disbelief at what she just witnessed. Olga Marie looked much the same.

Izuku, for his part, couldn’t quite revel in his minor victory. The force of the shockwave knocked him back the way he came, landing on his rear right in front of the two girls. As if that wasn’t enough, he let out another pained shout, grabbing the arm that had just dealt the death blow.

“SENPAI!” Mash shouted, dropping down to her knees beside Izuku. She hurriedly rolled up his sleeve, trying to find any signs of damage, all while apologizing in a panicked voice. “Senpai, I-I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have got caught up in that, I should’ve seen them coming! If I had, you wouldn’t be-!”

“M-Mash, Mash, i-it’s OK...” he eked out, trying to calm her down, for what little good it did. “If you two are safe, then it’s alright...” Fou, for his part, had jumped off of Izuku’s head, and was now in his lap again, licking at his arm to try and soothe him.

“S-Senpai...” she answered, her voice wavering. Upon examining his arm, she’d discover that the skin was now a deep red, as if he’d just got a bad sunburn. It was very hot to the touch, however, Mash’s fingers recoiling after a ginger prod. She looked up to Olga Marie, panic still clear on her face. “Director, please, what do I do?!”

Unfortunately, the Director was still staring at Izuku with the same totally stunned expression. Unable to speak for a few moments longer, she stared at him and his burning red arm, her mind already drawing a conclusion on its own. It was just getting her mouth to work again that was proving to be an issue, and it would take a few seconds more before she could.

“Wha...what...what the hell was that, Midoriya...?” was what she managed to get out, sounding like she’d taken the blow herself and was left in a stupor.

He looked up at her, just as astounded as she was, for mostly different reasons. “I...I don’t...”

“...please tell me you’re not about to say that you don’t know what you just did!” she exclaimed, before dropping down on Izuku’s other side. “Seriously, what did you do?! That couldn’t just be ordinary Reinforcement, it was on another level entirely! And why didn’t you say you had a spell like that-”

“ _Director!_ ” Mash interjected, her panic still very clear in her voice and on her face.

Olga Marie looked to her, then back to Izuku, then over to his arm. “OK, OK! L-Look, you obviously overtaxed your Magic Circuits, your skin should not be that red!” she explained as best as she could, even without understanding what was going on. “Frankly...if it’s that bad, they might be permanently damaged, but without contact with Chaldea there’s no way to tell right now...”

This did not help Mash’s fright, as she looked to Izuku again, her eyes even starting to moisten at the prospect Olga Marie proposed. “S-Senpai, no...” she quietly pleaded.

It probably didn’t help that Izuku looked even more lost in the midst of all of this, Mash’s panic definitely rubbing off on him but his confusion not subsiding as he turned to the Director. “I...that was a spell? And what-”

“Midoriya, I swear, if the next thing you do is ask me what Magic Circuits are, I _will_ slap you.” she warned, cutting him off again. She stood to her feet after that, putting her hands over her face again and nervously exhaling. “OK...OK...just calm down...think this through...” she muttered to herself, trying to reassess the situation. She pulled her hands back down, then did her best to, well, direct. “We need to get in touch with Chaldea ASAP. That means finding that leyline and establishing a connection. So as soon as Midoriya can walk again, we’re going to get moving-”

“D-Director...” an anxious Mash interrupted, likewise trying to calm herself through shaky breaths. “We’re...we’re standing on the leyline.”

Olga Marie froze, looking down at Mash, then at her own feet, before going back to Mash. “R-Right, o-obviously-!” she started, before quickly stopping herself. Getting angry again wasn’t going to help anyone, least of all Izuku. She took another breath to steady herself, then tried again. “Alright. Mash, I’m going to need you to place your Noble Phantasm on the ground. That’ll be our conduit to establish the connection.”

Mash helped Izuku stand up again, Fou jumping onto his opposite shoulder, while he held his wounded arm. Rather than do as the Director said, all she could do was stare at her, her fear now mixed with clear disapproval. Olga Marie flinched at the stare, instinctively responding with: “W-What...?”

She still didn’t say anything, instead turning to look at Izuku. He looked at her in turn, and setting aside how close she was to him, the expectant look on her face said it all. He looked over at the Director, then back to Mash, rapidly thinking of a fitting answer.

“...um...i-is it safe for us to do that?” he asked. Not a command nor a deferral of authority, but it was better than putting them at risk through not asking it.

In response, both Mash and Olga Marie hurriedly looked around them, just to check and ensure more skeletons weren’t sneaking up on them. After a brief search, Mash responded with: “It seems we’re safe for now, Master.”

“A-Alright...” he nervously answered, then nodded to Mash. She let go of him after that, then reached back and pulled out her shield again. She placed it on the ground between Izuku and Olga Marie, exhaling to calm herself again.

“Establishing connection to Chaldea now.” she stated.

Izuku noticed at this point that her shield had a piece of illegible writing in the center, surrounded by twelve circles, almost like the points on a clock. From each of those circles suddenly arose balls of blue light. Along with it came what appeared to be a magic circle made of the same light, with designs and drawings Izuku couldn’t even hope to understand. The balls spun around the center, soon moving fast enough to become a ring of blue. The ring then expanded, pushing past all three people there. With that, the ring shot up walls of blue, lines of light criss-crossing all around them like circuits.

It was an impressive sight for Izuku, to say the least. What was more surprising was that he suddenly felt his arm start to lessen in pain. He looked down at it, and gradually the deep red colour his skin had become was fading away. The aches and pains that were going through his body were subsiding as well.

Mash, likewise, looked awed by the environment around them, but for a different reason. “This is just like the summoning chamber back at Chaldea...” she said as she rose back to her feet.

Just then, an unfamiliar voice crackled through a speaker. “CQ, CQ. Hello? Can anyone read me? The connection’s back on, right?”

Izuku looked to his other arm, noticing the voice was coming from there. He reached over and rolled up his other sleeve, only to see two rather surprising things. The first was the silver bracelet that was latched around his wrist, which he didn’t remember putting on before.

The second was the small hologram of a man staring up at him. The blue light made it hard to totally tell his appearance, but he looked to be a doctor of some kind, judging by the white lab coat over a smock, and the white gloves over his hands. The long hair tied back in a ponytail was a bit unprofessional, though.

“Ah, good, it did work!” he exclaimed with a thankful smile.

“Romani?!” Olga Marie suddenly cried, hurrying to Izuku’s side to talk to the hologram. “Why are you the one answering?! Where’s Lev?! He’s supposed to be next in line after me!”

“Wha-?!” the man yelled back, having turned to see the Director. “D-Director?! You’re alive?! You’re not even hurt?! But how...”

“What is _that_ supposed to mean, Romani?” she demanded, but swiftly dropped that and moved on. “Answer my question! Where’s Lev? If he’s there then put him on!”

Izuku wondered just who this ‘Lev’ person was and why Olga Marie was so attached to him, but he didn’t have time to ask, as Romani responded properly this time. “Director, I’m doing this because I am the highest-ranked person left. Believe me, if anyone knows I’m not cut out for this, it’s me. But we’ve only been able to find around twenty survivors so far, and Dr. Lainur was in the Command Room when the explosion happened. The odds of him being alive...”

Both Izuku and Mash reeled from the revelation. Only twenty survivors? It was an absolutely horrific prospect. They looked over at the Director, and found that she was just as aghast, but that was mixed with genuine grief. “No...Lev...” she started to say. However, she quashed that as quickly as possible, and tried to act as an authority figure again. “Wait, no, never mind that right now...what about the other Master candidates? What’s their condition?”

Izuku could see that the loss was a real blow to her, but before he could even consider how to comfort her, Romani replied. Unfortunately, the news was no less grim. “All forty-seven Master candidates are in critical condition. The odds of them surviving are very low. Our medical supplies are limited, so we may be able to save a few-”

“Stop!” Olga Marie suddenly cried out. “Don’t even try that! The Coffins are all equipped with cryogenic preservation modules! Activate those immediately! Once we have more resources we can treat them properly!”

“Ah! That’s right!” Romani answered, suddenly realizing his error. “I forgot they could do that! Of course, I’ll get on that right away!”

The connection remained, but Romani had disappeared from sight, leaving only blue static for the moment. Izuku was still processing everything he’d just heard. All of the other Master candidates were critically wounded, over eighty percent of the staff were dead, and they had no clue how the explosion happened, or who was even responsible for it. His head lurched from the severity of the situation.

Mash, on the other hand, had turned her attention to the Director, a look of amazement on her face. “Director...cryogenically freezing someone without proper approval is a crime.” This remark drew Izuku’s attention as well, his head snapping up to Mash, then over to Olga Marie.

“I’m well aware of that, Mash.” she responded firmly. “Right now my priority is saving their lives if I can. If that chance is there, then I’ll weather what comes after when it comes.”

Both Master and Servant stared at the Director in a new light. Mash allowed a small smile of admiration to cross her face, while Izuku could only respond in an awed tone. “Director...”

Olga Marie turned to Izuku and narrowed her own gaze. “Don’t look at me like that, Midoriya. I know of my reputation, but I’m not _heartless._ ” She looked back to the holographic image on his wrist, if only to look at something else. “Never mind the fact that we’ve lost so many already...I can’t possibly bear the weight of losing more on top of...”

She trailed off, then seemed to snap to attention, and the vulnerable girl was gone, replaced by the hardened Director once more. “Besides, if it gets out that I let all of these mages die, including the ones connected to the Association, then the Clock Tower will want my head on a spike!” she snapped. “They’ll no doubt try to claim Chaldea for themselves anyway, and I can’t let that happen! If I can show that I acted to save their legacies, then I can use that for leverage!”

Again, Izuku couldn’t argue against that, even if there was a lot he didn’t grasp fully. However, he saw her front break for that moment. This was eating her up much more than she let on, and for whatever reason she seemed to think she _couldn’t_ let on what she was dealing with. Considering how tense things were in that moment, it was probably best not to touch on that right now. Later, though, he would try to talk to her.

He didn’t really know her, but it was obvious she needed someone to vent to.

“Alright, the preservation process has begun.” Romani suddenly announced, sliding back into frame. “Once they’re all frozen, we’ll transfer the Coffins into storage until we can begin treating them.” He let out a tired sigh following this. “That will no doubt take some time, however. With all the staff lost, Chaldea’s operational ability has severely dropped. The remaining staff can’t handle all of this ourselves.” He paused for a moment, then continued with a serious tone. “I’ve assigned them to focus on repairing the Rayshift engine and getting it to complete functionality as fast as possible. That way we can get you back here sooner. Once that’s finished, we’ll work on restoring communication with the outside world and ask for repairs and supplies.”

Olga Marie nodded without missing a beat. “Right. Good call, Romani. You did what I would’ve done in your situation.” she said in a rare complimentary tone. That didn’t last very long, however. “While you’re here, however, we have another situation to address.”

“Wait, we do?!” Romani shouted. Izuku was about to say the same, only to look up and see that the Director was giving that withering stare at him again.

“Izuku Midoriya.” she said with a low, accusatory tone. “Who are you? Who are you _really?_ ”

“Wha-?!” he responded, his eyes wide as panic started to take him again. “What are you talking about?!”

“Don’t play dumb with me!” she snapped back. “I told you at the start, we don’t have time for egos to get in the way! You’ve obviously been hiding something this whole time, considering what you just did! So no more excuses! Out with it!”

“W-Wait, seriously, I don’t know what you mean!” he hastily answered. “I haven’t lied at all since coming here! I don’t know what’s going on, and I really don’t know what just happened!”

“...are you just that good at playing dumb, or are you actually this dumb?” the Director asked disbelievingly.

“Director, I don’t think he’s lying!” Mash interjected. “He really was in a lot of pain earlier, and you can see what’s happened to him!”

“Well obviously I can see that, but-”

“Wait, wait, hold on!” Romani jumped in, stopping the argument from escalating again. “Crap, I’m sorry, I totally forgot about this! We do have something to go over, but first!” The hologram spun and faced Izuku himself, Romani’s frantic energy directed at him. “Midoriya, how do you feel? What’s your condition right now?!”

Izuku blinked at Romani’s question, left to scramble for an answer, hard as it was to believe. “W-Well...actually...I feel...OK, I guess?”

There was a short pause as all other parties present stared at Izuku. Romani, ever strung-out, was the first to speak up. “So...wait, you’re not in pain anymore...?”

“W-Well, a little...?” he answered uncertainly. “I mean, my arm still feels off, but the rest of me feels...fine now!”

“...but you were falling over earlier!” Romani called back. “I called before and you were barely even conscious! Now you’re saying you’re fine?!”

“You’re really not helping your case here, Midoriya.” Olga Marie remarked, that piercing suspicious stare aimed at him again. “I’ll admit, you played the wounded gazelle act very well. You had me fooled from the start.”

“I-It wasn’t an act!” he protested. “I swear, if I could’ve done something sooner and not slow Mash down-”

“Wait, Senpai!” Mash jumped in, before pointing at his arm. “Look!”

Indeed, he and everyone else looked to his arm, only to see that the deep red colouration was now entirely gone. His skin was a little darker than before, but even that seemed to be fading as well. Everyone watched in astonishment, before Olga Marie spoke up. “...what in the-”

“W-W-What the _fuck?!_ ”

At least, she started to, before Romani blurted out that expletive and caused all eyes (including Fou’s) to direct at him. He was staring wide-eyed ahead of him, seemingly at a computer screen none of them could see. “I checked Midoriya’s condition when I first called, and he really was in bad shape! I even told Mash that if he didn’t get to a safe location right away, he might not make it! But...he really has recovered! It’s like he’s almost in perfect health again!” He did not let this set in, turning to Izuku again. “When did this start happening?!”

“U-Um...” Izuku stammered, before quickly answering. “Right about the time we opened the connection?” He paused, then tilted his head at the doctor. “You mean...you guys aren’t doing this?”

“Of course we’re not doing this! We’re not miracle workers for-” Romani started to respond, but stopped short. He leaned forward to stare at the invisible screen, then slowly leaned back, an expression of dawning realization on his face. “Wait...that would explain it...but this...it’s unprecedented...”

“What is?” Mash asked, starting to fret just a bit again. “Dr. Roman, what’s going on?”

“...this is just my best guess right now.” he started, sounding tired all over again. “But...I think what’s happening is that Midoriya’s Magic Circuits are absorbing the mana around you on their own, just reflexively. They then use the mana to perform bodily functions at a higher rate. When you connected to the leyline, that just gave them more mana to work with. Right now what they’re doing is focusing on healing him so that he’s in ideal condition.” He paused to take a breath, and to let that settle, before turning to Olga Marie. “Director? You said he did something else?”

The Director was still slowly understanding what she just heard, so at Romani’s question, she wearily retorted: “Oh, yeah, he definitely did. He just decimated about a dozen Dragon Tooth Warriors with a single punch.”

“He _what?!_ ” Romani cried.

“Exactly!” she responded, now awake and aware again. “That’s why I need you to double-check his record! Are you sure he’s not connected to any notable families?! This can’t just be some no-name off of the streets like we thought!”

Izuku was likewise still comprehending what he was hearing, so he didn’t think to say anything just yet. Romani took about two seconds, then read off some pertinent information. “Midoriya, Izuku. Male. One hundred sixty-six centimetres tall. Blood type, O. Born in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, July fifteenth-”

“Wait.” Olga Marie cut in. “Shizuoka Prefecture?” She pulled back a bit, a finger tapping her arm as she folded them again. “Aren’t there a high concentration of those...people there?” She started snapping her fingers as she tried to find the right term. “What are they called again...Quirk-users?”

Izuku’s head snapped up to stare at her, his eyes wide with clear fright as he felt his heart drop through his stomach. Oh no. Oh God please no, not this. Not now.

“Quirk-users?” Romani asked. “You mean the metahumans? Yes, I think we reported there were far more of them there than mages...”

At this, Olga Marie gave a long sigh of relief. “Finally, something that makes sense...” She then wore a light smile on her face, turning her attention to Izuku. “So, clearly, you’re one of these Quirk-users! No wonder you were so secretive, you clearly didn’t belong here! Obviously someone on our end screwed up and misread your unique ability as magic, so we can-”

“N-No.”

The Director stopped when Izuku suddenly interrupted. He just as quickly aimed his gaze down at the ground, though it did little to hide the shame in his voice. “I...I don’t have a Quirk...I was born...Quirkless...”

The statement alone wouldn’t have meant anything to anyone there, but how disappointed and depressed Izuku sounded when he said it quickly changed the mood again. Mash in particular stared at him with evident worry on her face.

She didn’t understand what this meant, but she wished she could find out why it upset him so much.

“...it wouldn’t be the case regardless, I don’t think.” Romani explained, then hesitantly continued. “This...this is what I wanted to talk to you about when we could.” He paused, then turned to Olga Marie again. “Director...right now, Midoriya has Magic Circuits and a Crest. I can see it on his vitals right now. But...when you had me examine him earlier...he _didn’t._ ”

Olga Marie looked at the hologram of Romani as if he’d just sprouted an extra head. She responded in the most dazed and stunned voice Izuku had heard since this day started. “...excuse me...?”

“He didn’t have a Magic Crest. He had no Magic Circuits.” Romani clarified. “He...he wasn’t a mage. At all.”

The silence that followed for the next minute was nearly deafening. Izuku couldn’t fully understand what this meant, but from all the reactions around him, this was absolutely impossible. Mash’s expression was slightly more subdued, but she still seemed to have a hard time believing it. As for the Director, she was still just staring at Romani, totally unable to function for that time.

That soon changed, however, as Izuku could swear he felt the temperature around them drop several degrees when she slowly hissed out an answer. “...Romani Archaman...are you telling me, right now...that when I assigned you to screen candidates, and told you to seek out people from outside the families to fill our ranks...you took that to mean that you should bring in an ordinary, totally non-magical human into _my secret magical facility?!_ ”

“I-I didn’t know!” he shouted back, looking like he was about to end up in a ditch in the middle of nowhere. “I swear, when we did the blood test with him, we got results! That’s why we recruited him!”

“That makes absolutely no sense!” she yelled back. “If he didn’t have any magic capability whatsoever, the test wouldn’t have worked! It would’ve come back completely negative, and we would have dumped it and moved on!”

“I know, but I have the test right here, from before the examination!” he replied.

“Well, then, tell me the results!” she sniped.

Romani looked hesitant for a moment, but looked to the invisible screen again. “Well...his magical capability is almost nil. His Rayshifting aptitude...slightly above average. And...” he trailed off, the hesitation in his voice only growing.

“...and what?!” the Director demanded. “The third component, Romani! What is it?!”

“...alright, I’m just gonna say it.” he admitted. “His capability as a Master is off the charts! These numbers are even better than some of the members of Team A! He could’ve ended up with a higher ranking in the facility if not for his low magic potential!”

Olga Marie was again left to stare at Romani in utter disbelief, although Izuku was doing much the same. She recovered much more quickly this time. “Th-That has to be a mistake! You must’ve gotten his results mixed up with another and recruited the wrong person!”

“Director, I took another blood sample when he came to see me today.” he answered firmly. “It’s a one-to-one match. There is no mistake.”

“...impossible...” she relented, her gaze drooping from Romani to the ground beneath them. Izuku was likewise left totally speechless. He started today as ordinary and human as they came, now he was being told that he could perform magic, had access to some unknown spell that no other mage present could understand, and was now in a completely different place and time to boot. His Master capability also left him feeling stunned and uneasy. He had no idea what being a Master really was, but apparently he was naturally gifted at it? What sense did that make? The Director was right, there had to be a mistake.

“...it...isn’t impossible for a mage to be born to a non-magic family.” Mash finally weighed in, sounding and looking just as baffled as everyone else, but still trying to make sense of it all. “It’s very rare, but it does happen...doesn’t it, Dr. Roman?”

“Well...yes, Mash...” he started to answer. “But there’s a wide gulf of a difference between that, and going from not having Magic Circuits to suddenly having them after a Rayshift...”

“...a-are you sure there’s no mistake, sir...?” Izuku meekly asked.

“I’m positive, Midoriya.” he firmly replied. “As utterly impossible and miraculous as it is...you can perform Magecraft now.”

“What is this...?” Olga Marie tiredly asked no one. “What is my life...? A non-mage slipped into my facility, was somehow better at being a Master than almost everyone else, then just grows Magic Circuits and can absorb mana without even trying to...” she rambled on, sounding like she was slowly losing her grip on reality. “What next...? How did this even happen...? Are we going to find out that the Root just gifted him with this? Is that what we’re heading towards...?”

Izuku regarded the Director, looking like her whole world was turned upside down, and tried his best to help her feel better. Albeit without thinking it through. “Director, for what it’s-”

“ _You-!_ ” she responded, stopping him from continuing. She looked at him with a wild, nearly unhinged expression, but her speech came out in fragments. “I...you...buh...” She then slumped down again, leaving him to watch her while still looking highly afraid. “...I can’t even be mad at you now. Of course you don’t understand any of this, because you’re not a mage...you’re just a regular person...”

“...this does explain why you were hurting so much earlier, Senpai...” Mash added, causing him to look at her with the same dazed look the Director was now wearing. “Magic Circuits...they act like an extra nervous system, directing from your brain. It is possible to transfer them to another person, but the process is highly painful and dangerous...”

“More so because we don’t know what Crest this is.” Romani included. “Like I said, you were really in a bad way earlier. If those Circuits weren’t able to convert mana like this...” he trailed off, then gave an exhausted sigh. “I won’t sugarcoat this. The simple fact that you’re breathing right now is a miracle in and of itself, let alone that you’re in perfect health now.”

More and more things that Izuku couldn’t understand right now. He might never fully understand it at this rate. Olga Marie wasn’t about to help either, as she suddenly grabbed his wrist and pulled the hologram closer to her.

“Romani, listen to me very carefully.” she started, a look of cold determination now on her face. “Under no circumstances does this leave Chaldea. As soon as we’re done here, you and everyone else there will swear an oath of secrecy! Use a geis if you have to! We all have to take this secret to our graves!” Without waiting for his response, she whipped her head up to look at Mash and Izuku. “That goes for the both of you as well!” She turned to focus primarily on Izuku, panic written all over her face. “I can’t stress this enough Midoriya. If the Association finds out what happened here...that a non-mage got in our facility, and then just became magically proficient in hours...the things they would do to you...” she trailed off, not even able to finish the warning. “You have to swear to me! Right now! You won’t breathe a word about this to anyone outside of Chaldea, no matter what!”

Yet another turn of events that left Izuku dumbfounded. He’d just been gifted an impossible thing, and now he had to keep it a secret? It was so baffling that he ended up asking the first thought that came to mind without considering it further.

“N-Not even my parents...?”

Olga Marie again ended up sputtering incoherently for a few seconds. “You...y-your...puh...” she trailed off again, before letting go of his wrist. She placed her hands on her face again, this time giving a strung-out growl, before moving them away and hurriedly responding: “I-I’ll figure something out with them, OK?! I can’t make any promises but I’ll try to make something work! But no one else! Absolutely no other person walking this planet!”

Izuku was surprised that she even considered heeding his dazed request, so he snapped to attention again right after and gave his own quick reply. “Y-Yes! O-Of course, not another soul, ma’am!”

Olga Marie exhaled, then looked over to Mash. The Demi-Servant could only nod in reply, still having to make sense of all of this herself. The Director slumped and gave another sigh, before straightening back up. She straightened her dress, inhaling deeply, then let it go as the stern Director came back.

“Alright Romani. Until I return to Chaldea, you’re in charge. Keep up the work on repairing the Rayshift engine. In the meantime, Midoriya, Mash, and I will continue our investigation of Singularity F.” she concluded.

“Roger that-wait what?!” Romani started to confirm, but blurted out his real thoughts once her command sank in. “You’re actually going into the field yourself, Director?!”

“ _Watch it._ ” she snarled back. “We don’t have the option of wasting opportunities. Even with the Master candidates safe the Association might still deem me unfit to run things and seize Chaldea anyway.” She paused to direct her attention to Izuku and Mash, her expression grim. “And if you guys think I’m bad, pray you never have to deal with them.” Which was an obvious statement in Izuku’s case, but she wasn’t going to focus on that. She looked back to Romani and continued. “We’re going to investigate the cause of the Singularity, but that’s all. Dispelling it will have to wait until we have more of a team to work with. If we come back with concrete information, that should be enough to get aid from outside. Understood?”

Romani nodded in response, followed by both Mash and Izuku. Fou did the same as well, giving a short “Fou!” as well. Not that Olga Marie particularly cared.

“Good.” she concluded.

“Now that the connection’s established, you guys can talk to me any time.” Romani added. “If Midoriya’s feeling better, you can leave the leyline.”

Izuku looked to his other arm now, clenching and unclenching his fist. Somehow, aside a little numbness, he really was feeling better. Another impossible thing to add to the pile.

“Over and out, Romani.” Olga Marie concluded, then reached over and tapped a button on the bracelet Izuku wore. The hologram disappeared soon after.

“...Director, are you sure you want to do this?” Mash asked finally. “If we wait a bit, we might be able to head back and recover before proceeding.”

“You heard me the first time, Mash.” Olga Marie retorted. “We need concrete results if we want any help. We can’t wait on this. So far we’ve only encountered weak enemies, and between you and...” she trailed off, looking at Izuku again, who tensed up in return. “...well, with you along we should be able to handle them. We’ll retreat if something worse comes along and play it safe.”

She trailed off again, then looked from Izuku to Mash and back again. The disapproving look was back, but Izuku thought he noticed a twinge of jealousy in there as well.

“While I still don’t fully agree with this...I’ll approve of your contract.” she concluded. She then stepped forward to jab a finger in Izuku’s chest, which resulted in a light yelp from him as he leaned back. “You, however...you’ve been handed something that could make all of the difference in this. So I’m keeping an eye on you. If you know what’s good for you, you _will_ meet my standards. Is that clear?”

“Y-Yes!” he quickly answered. “Very clear! I’ll do my best, ma’am!”

“...well, your ‘best’ better be really damn good...” was all she had to say.

It was a torrent of revelations that would require a lot of time to unpack, but at least for now they were on the same page.

Izuku just hoped nothing else was going to catch him by surprise today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whole lotta exposition in this chapter. Olga Marie's a tricky character to get down, but hopefully I managed a balance of "hardened authoritarian figure" and "stressed-out twenty-something in over her head".
> 
> I didn't like the idea of just having the characters repeat dialogue from FGO word for word, so I made some tweaks here and there. 'Cause really, if I was gonna do that, why wouldn't you just go play the game or watch the cutscenes yourself? I'd like to think that it's enjoyable enough on its own, but obviously that's for you to judge


	4. Fuyuki: Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The investigation into Singularity F properly begins, as does Izuku's education.

# The Investigation Begins

With the leyline successfully established, the makeshift party began their mission. At Olga Marie’s command, they set out to investigate any locations that she deemed suspicious, in the hopes that it could help them narrow down the source of the Singularity.

The actual walk was filled with a very tense atmosphere, Izuku found. They were all still coming to terms with the revelations that came earlier, and he in particular had a lot of questions about what he was supposed to do with this. Problem was, any time he started to ask the Director for advice or clarification on anything, he’d receive either an incomprehensible growl or a fierce glare from her, and that shut him up in a hurry. Any glances he gave to Mash for help only resulted in an uneasy shake of her head, as if to tell him to just drop it for now.

So was the mood as their trek continued, which stretched on for quite a bit of time. They moved at a careful pace, thinking to change direction any time they spotted more Dragon Tooth Warriors ahead. Olga Marie’s idea was to avoid making too much noise, so as to not draw attention to themselves, whether it be from the skeletons or anything else that could be skulking about. Izuku did wonder why they were called that, since it brought something familiar to mind, but given the Director’s mood it was something he kept to himself.

The group didn’t come to a stop until they reached a large red bridge, stretching over their heads and stopping at another section of land, a large river separating the two parts. Mash’s eyes widened in recognition as she began speaking. “This is the famed Fuyuki Bridge. It helps connect both the Miyami and Shinto sections of the city together. It’s undeniably the city’s most famous landmark.” she commented.

“Mash, we’re not here on tour.” Olga Marie finally remarked. Izuku and Mash both flinched at this, with the former looking worriedly at the latter. He turned back to the Director and opened his mouth to talk, but stopped short when she spun around and fixed her hard stare at him.

“...well Midoriya?” she said, expecting him to infer her meaning on his own.

Which he definitely could not, as the confused and frightened look on his face attested to. “S-Sorry...?”

“’Sorry’?!” she growled back. “Do you even know what you’re saying sorry for?! Or is that just your basic defence mechanism?!”

That gave Izuku the idea that she was still mad over something he had done. Given that could be any number of things, most of which he wasn’t even sure of, that just left the things he _did_ know he did wrong. “...um...s-sorry for disobeying you earlier...?” he attempted.

This earned a blank stare from the Director, left stunned by Izuku’s actions for yet another instance that day. Which did little to help Izuku’s growing stress levels.

“Ah!” Mash suddenly shouted. She then turned to the Director and bowed her head. “Director, I should apologize for disobeying you as well! I shouldn’t have gotten so heated like that, otherwise I would’ve seen those enemies approaching and not put us in danger!” She then turned to Izuku and did much the same. “Senpai, I’m sorry to you as well! If I hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t have risked your life for us and gotten hurt!”

Izuku jolted in surprise at this, but quickly responded in turn. “I-It’s OK Mash, really! I completely understand why you did, and I wasn’t helping by just standing there not saying anything! If I had just made a decision sooner-”

“No, no, no, no, _no!_ ” came the response from a thoroughly exasperated Director, who was now tugging at her own hair in turn. She stopped after a second, then continued to rant at a surprised Izuku and Mash. “I can’t take much more of this!” She moved a hand to gesture at Mash as she said this. “It’s bad enough that I have _one_ person who apologizes over every innocuous thing, but _two?!_ I...just...RRRRRRGH!”

With that frustrated growl given, the Director turned and stomped away, fuming the entire way, until she walked around the other side of the bridge’s support and disappeared from sight.

“Yeesh...she’s really in a mood right now, isn’t she...?” the voice of Dr. Roman crackled through Izuku’s communicator. He lifted it up soon after, showing the hologram appearing from the device. “You guys should probably give her a bit of space right now. I’m still monitoring you all, so if she gets too far I’ll let you know.”

“R-Right...” Izuku responded, still left stunned and just a little unnerved after that outburst. Glancing at where she went, possibly to see if she was coming back, he then looked to the hologram and anxiously asked: “What am I doing wrong here?! I’m not trying to upset her or anything, but it’s like me just _being_ here is getting her mad!”

“That sort of _is_ the case, Senpai.” Mash explained with an uneasy face. “Setting aside what we just discovered about you and your Magic Crest, the fact remains that you even being here was not part of the Director’s plan. She wanted to approach this with the best that Chaldea had to offer, while she monitored things from the Command Room.” she clarified. She glanced back at where Olga Marie had gone to, before turning back and continuing with the same uneasy expression. “Suffice to say, things have not gone her way...and she really isn’t capable of dealing with it...”

“Not to mention that you kinda represent her polar opposite in a number of ways.” Dr. Roman added. “She’s from a prestigious mage family, you weren’t even a mage until a couple of hours ago. She’s connected to some of the most powerful people in the world, you’re seen as basically nobody. Then there’s that test I mentioned? Her results are exactly opposite yours. Her magical capability is incredible, but her ability as a Master...” he trailed off, expecting Izuku to connect the dots himself.

Which he did, though it did little to help him feel better. Izuku soon leaned against the support behind him and slid down, ending up sitting on the ground beneath him. Fou gave a lightly annoyed “Fooou...” from atop his head, but otherwise remained comfortably seated. Izuku spoke in a defeated tone when he spoke again. “More things that I don’t understand and that I can’t help...”

Mash watched Izuku the whole time with a highly concerned look, and soon joined him on the ground in turn. “As I said in the facility, please don’t take it too personally, Senpai. The Director doesn’t actually _hate_ you. She’s just been dealing with a lot of pressure lately.” she explained, before unhelpfully adding: “At least, that’s what I think.”

“’A lot of pressure’ is putting it mildly, Mash.” Dr. Roman commented. “Considering how much money the Animusphere family pumped into Chaldea, and considering they’re one of the twelve governing families of the Mage’s Association, if this doesn’t end well then she’ll take the brunt of it.” He turned to face Izuku in particular as he continued. “She wasn’t kidding about how ruthless they can be. It’s gonna take a lot of work to cover up your whole secret, let alone everything else that’s been going on. Even then none of us can guarantee this’ll end with us keeping our jobs.”

Izuku grimaced at what the picture that was painted. Whoever this Mage’s Association was, they sounded like the most vicious bureaucrats that existed. If they really were at all like the Director or Dr. Roman described them, he got himself into a world he swiftly wanted no part of.

He did want to ask more about them, but something else was sticking out to him. He furrowed his brow in thought, then turned to Mash again. “Mash, the founder of Chaldea...his name was Animusphere too, right?”

Mash tilted her head slightly in confusion, but answered affirmatively. “Yes, that’s right. Marisbury Animusphere. He was Director Olga Marie’s father.”

Now things were starting to make a bit more sense. Izuku hummed in thought as he went over the details. With Olga Marie being the daughter of the founder, that explained why she was the one in charge now. Also, with Mash referring to him in the past tense...

“...the founder...” he began, looking to Mash with a worried expression. “...he’s...”

Mash lowered her gaze, but said nothing. “Yes, he’s dead.” Dr. Roman cut in to explain. “It happened three years ago. Rather suddenly, too. So as his only living heir, Olga Marie was made the new Director in his stead. Before that she was a student at the Clock Tower, so you can imagine how unprepared she was when the news came. Since then she’s been running herself ragged trying to keep Chaldea going, since it’s her family’s reputation that’s on the line. If this all goes wrong, they could lose their status, their fortune...everything her father built up would be taken away.”

Izuku stared at Dr. Roman in shock, the full weight of the burden on Olga Marie’s shoulders now apparent to him. He turned to look at where she had gone, and without a second thought he rose to his feet and started to walk. “I’m going to talk to her.” he declared.

“Wha-Senpai, wait!” Mash was on her feet in a second, grabbing Izuku’s wrist before he could get too far. “Th-That’s a really bad idea!”

“Yeah, you don’t wanna do that!” Dr. Roman hurriedly added.

Izuku looked at Mash in surprise, not at all expecting her to try and stop him. “Why not? You guys keep saying she’s dealing with a lot, wouldn’t it be better if she got to talk about it?”

There was a small pause, only broke by Mash shaking her head, and Dr. Roman followed up soon after. “Midoriya, your heart’s in the right place here, but you _really_ don’t understand. Because of the position she’s in, Director Olga Marie is convinced that if she shows any signs of weakness at any time, that’ll be enough for either the Association to condemn her, or someone else in Chaldea to try and overthrow her.” he explained. After a moment, he gave a weary sigh and added: “Believe me, I’ve tried multiple times to get her to come to counselling so she can get a reprieve, but she always refuses. Her pride simply won’t allow it.”

“That, and...” Mash began, before hesitantly looking away. “...you’re not going to like this, Senpai...but I think you saving her earlier only made things worse.”

That caused Izuku to jolt like he’d just been slapped. “What?! B-But I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing!” he exclaimed.

“I-I know, and I completely understand!” Mash responded, turning back to him with an equally anxious expression. “I’m not saying what you did was _wrong_ , Senpai! But...for someone like the Director, in her position...for a completely unknown non-mage to save her life, when she believes she has to be invincible...it’s just a reminder of how she isn’t...”

For a moment, the face of a certain blond boy flashed in Izuku’s mind as Mash explained this. Which soon prompted him to place his free hand over his eyes and give a long defeated moan. “Not _again_...”

“Eh?” Mash responded, looking more confused than worried now. “Again, Senpai?”

Izuku flinched as he realized what he’d almost let on, lowering his hand and slightly shaking his head. “I-It’s a long story...let’s just say I’ve sort of dealt with this before...”

“...what, you make a habit of saving prideful girls from reanimated skeletons?” Dr. Roman quipped.

“N-Not so much _that_ , exactly...” Izuku nervously answered. He privately hoped they’d just drop the subject. He really didn’t want to remember all the grisly events of his past right now.

Although the curious look Mash was giving him seemed to indicate he wasn’t going to get off that easy.

“Well, at any rate...” Dr. Roman weighed in. “For now, just give her the time she needs. Once things cool down more, she might be willing to talk. I’m glad that you’re willing to put yourself out there for her, especially since you’ve been dealing with the worst of her temper.” he concluded, his voice carrying an impressed tone towards the end.

Mash likewise smiled brightly at Izuku. “It’s just as I told you, Dr. Roman. My new Master is incredibly kind, isn’t he?”

Izuku could only flush red in response, quickly looking away from her to try and hide his embarrassment. “I-I wouldn’t go _that_ far, Mash...” he said, while trying not to focus on how Mash hadn’t let go of his wrist just yet.

“Sheesh, and so modest too.” Dr. Roman commented. “I’m not sure if you’re pulling off some long con or if you really are this way. Either way I’m a little annoyed for some reason.”

“Dr. Roman, don’t be mean to Senpai.” Mash responded, her smile gone and replaced with a mildly annoyed look, aimed at the hologram. “It’s not his fault you’re considered unpopular, that’s entirely your own doing.”

“H-Hey! That was uncalled for, Mash!” he replied, sounding embarrassed in his own right.

“Don’t pay him any mind, Senpai. Dr. Roman has a tendency to...” she began to explain, then trailed off, briefly confused. “...what’s the expression? ‘Put his fist in his mouth’?”

“It’s put your _foot_ in your mouth!” he corrected. “And I do not! ...not that often, anyway!”

Izuku couldn’t help but smile a little bit at the back and forth between the two of them, even if it was a slightly awkward one. After such a stressful encounter earlier, a little bit of levity was helping his mood a bit.

“Oh! Senpai, you’ve already met Dr. Roman before, right?” Mash suddenly asked. “Do you remember that? Or are you still having short-term memory problems?”

Izuku blinked at the question, then looked at the hologram of Dr. Roman, who was now staring back at him.

How did that first encounter go again?

\-----------------------------------------

**(Hours prior)**

While Izuku was certainly in a good mood after having met that nice girl, he still had to get to the infirmary as per his orders. Which wasn’t helped by his energy rapidly depleting again after that meeting, and so he had to get to his examination.

There was just a slight problem.

Once he made it there, he found that the room was empty. No sign of any doctors there. There was a lot of medical-looking equipment there; a cot with a full CAT scan system set up around it, a number of computer monitors set up close by, a tray by the cot with all the necessary items on it, and numerous other cots stretching from the back of the room to the front.

Yet, not a soul in sight. Which meant Izuku was left without any idea on what to do.

Was he supposed to go back and report that this Dr. Archaman had gone missing? Was he supposed to just go back to his room? With how tired he felt neither option seemed ideal, since he’d just embarrass himself with the former and open himself up to lambasting with the latter.

How could this be happening already? His first day and he was already caught between a rock and a hard place. He was going to make the wrong call here, he was going to get another balling out from the Director, probably thrown back in the plane or copter or whatever brought him here, sent back home because he was just that _useless_ -

“Ah, excuse me?” a voice asked, breaking Izuku’s train of thought. He turned to the source, greeted with the image of what must be a doctor of some kind. The white and green lab coat along with white pants was the likely indicator of that, along with the white gloves on his hands. The long reddish-brown hair tied up in a ponytail wasn’t the first thing that came to mind when Izuku thought of “doctor” but he wasn’t about to say as much. The man in question stared at him with a slightly bewildered look. “Is something the matter?”

Izuku took a step back automatically to let the man enter, confused for a moment but quick to explain himself regardless. “U-Um, sorry, just...I was told to come here for an examination. I’m supposed to meet a Dr. Archaman?”

The doctor nodded once after entering the room. “That’d be me.” he replied briefly. He then leaned a bit closer to look at Izuku’s face, causing the boy to lean back reflexively. He hummed lightly while staring right into his eyes, mulling over some pieces of information that were apparent only to him. He then straightened up and shrugged. “You look like you need a nap. Just head on back to your room, get some rest, and you should be right as rain.” With that, he turned and resumed walking, heading to the back of the infirmary.

Izuku stared at the retreating doctor, wondering if he’d made some sort of mistake. This was a pretty lax doctor, to say the least. Just to be on the safe side, he’d better press the issue a bit. “Um...are you sure that’s all?” he asked nervously. “The Director was insistent I get a proper examination...”

Dr. Archaman jolted at that, turning to look at him with a frightened expression. “She sent you?!” he sputtered out, before giving a heavy sigh. “She is on the warpath today...” He shook his head slightly, then motioned for Izuku to follow him. “Alright, come on then.”

Izuku still wondered if maybe this guy was just a little too lackadaisical for his own good, but did as he was asked and walked to the back of the room with him. After another gesture, he took a seat on the cot, Dr. Archaman sitting on a nearby chair and rolling along the floor with it to stop near him.

“OK, so, what’s the problem?” he asked. Izuku had to wonder just what to actually tell him, considering he had made a pretty straightforward assessment seconds ago.

“Well...I don’t know if it’s the jet lag, or whatever that simulation was, but I just feel _exhausted_...” he answered. He still wasn’t sure what the deal was with that, come to think of it. He had some oversized helmet shoved on his head, was suddenly told to take command of ‘Servants’, which made him feel a little disturbed, and then he was telling three people in some odd outfits to fight a giant made of rocks. He hadn’t even finished before he was yanked back out of it.

This prompted a slightly confused look from the doctor. “The simulation wouldn’t tire you out that much, I don’t think...” Izuku failed to see how that was true, but the doctor only reached down and pulled up his ID to examine it. “Hmm...Midoriya, Izuku? Oh, you must be the new guy.” He looked up to Izuku’s face after stating this, then frowned. “Which means they just shoved you into the meeting without actually consulting me first...” he remarked. With a shake of his head, he reached over and picked up a small flashlight from the tray. “I get that we’re in crisis mode but this is just irresponsible...hold still.”

Izuku closed one of his eyes while the doctor shone a light briefly in the other, then repeated the process for the opposite eye. “Yeah, you look pretty drained...” the doctor continued, lowering the light soon after. “Do you have any blood pressure issues? Anemia?”

Izuku shook his head in response. “N-No, I don’t think so...” he added. That wasn’t something his mom thought to check into. Not after _that_ diagnosis.

“Alright, then I’ll have to take a sample in a bit.” the doctor added. “Let me just do a basic check first...” he continued, picking up a tongue depressor in the same moment. Izuku automatically opened his mouth at this, Archaman pressing the item on his tongue while flashing the light into his mouth and checking around. Satisfied, he moved both away and asked: “So, physically you’re exhausted...how are you mentally?”

Izuku blinked at the question. Was this guy acting as both the medical physician and the psychologist? “At the moment...?” he asked bewilderingly. He looked more than a little hesitant as he thought over how best to respond. “Um...I...could be doing better, I guess...?”

He felt a slight tap on his knee, his leg reflexively kicking up in turn. Dr. Archaman hummed, then returned to the tray and placed the small hammer on it. “Well, you did just get thrown into the metaphorical deep end. I can only imagine you’re feeling a bit stressed.” he commented.

Couldn’t very well argue with that. “Y-Yeah, just a bit...” Izuku allowed himself to admit. ‘Just a bit’ was putting it very lightly, considering the circumstances.

“It’s a lot to take in, I know.” the doctor continued, rolling up Izuku’s sleeve while he talked. He wrapped a strap around his arm, then started squeezing a simple pump attached to it. “You were supposed to be given more time to be briefed and all, but we are down to the wire here. It’s not a good excuse, they should’ve brought you in sooner. But it is what happened.” he explained. Once the band was tight around Izuku’s arm, he leaned in to examine a meter on the side of it. Nodding once, he then unwrapped the band and withdrew it. “Guess you’re just unlucky?”

Izuku was wincing in part because of the strap constricting around his muscle, but afterwards the doctor’s comment sort of stuck a bit. “Yeah, maybe...” he answered. The doctor really had no idea _how_ unlucky.

Dr. Archaman hummed again, as he picked up the light again and shone it in Izuku’s ear. “Not the talkative type, are you?” he remarked.

Izuku jolted a bit after he pulled back, anxiously coming up with as good an excuse as he could. “S-Sorry, this is just...like you said, a lot to take in...”

Dr. Archaman leaned over to look at Izuku’s face for a moment, his eyes narrowed just slightly, studying the nervous wreck of a boy. For his part, Izuku’s eyes flitted from the doctor, to elsewhere in the room, back to him, then to the floor, and then back to him, as if waiting for him to stop staring at his eyes.

“...open up, please.” the doctor bluntly asked. Before Izuku could question what he meant, he held up a small thermometer. He did obey, the thermometer being placed under his tongue, and once his mouth was closed the doctor continued. “I get it, this is your first day, you just met me and all that. I’m not asking you to tell me your life story or anything, so relax a little bit, OK?” He did wear a somewhat tired expression at first as he said this, but over time a small, relaxed smile appeared on his face. It made Izuku feel just a bit bad for being on-guard as much as he was.

“...sorry...” he said again, just as a reflex. “I just...really have no idea what I’m doing here...” he allowed himself to admit. “Plus...well, the Director is...” he started to add, but trailed off, not wanting to implicate himself in any way.

“A bit of a terror, yeah.” the doctor admitted. “Trust me, we’re all well aware of it. She’s having a bad day, but then again we all kind of are.” he continued, while swabbing Izuku’s arm. “She must’ve really let you have it if you’re this high-strung, though.”

Izuku winced just at the thought of what had happened moments prior. “I mean...I was close to passing out during her speech...” he admitted.

“Oof, yeah, that’d set her off...” Dr. Archaman commented. Rather that continue, however, he looked to Izuku’s face while holding up a needle. “Now you’re gonna feel a pinch and you might get a bit dizzy after. You ready?”

Izuku gave a quick nod and just as quickly turned his head away. He should probably get used to needles already, but that was not gonna happen today. He winced at the pinching feeling, and waited for the doctor to finish what he was doing.

“Aaaaalright!” he said after a few seconds. Before Izuku knew what was happening, the needle was gone, and a fresh bandage was slapped on the spot it once was. The good doctor rolled away from Izuku, coming to a stop at the computer screens set up across from Izuku. “Anyway, try not to worry too much about it. You’re gonna be here a while, that’s lots of time to get used to your new location, get to know everyone, maybe make a friend or two along the way, all that good stuff!” he remarked.

Izuku couldn’t quite see what the doctor was doing behind the desk, only that he was soon rolling back across the room, a box of cookies in hand that he passed off to him. “Here, eat up. For your blood sugar.” he added.

“Th-Thank you!” Izuku responded. Now that he thought about it, he was pretty hungry. So he wasted little time opening up the box and grabbing one of the thin mints inside. Though he did still only take a small bite, carefully chewing as the doctor retreated to the computer again. “...come to think of it, I did make a friend already! ...well, kind of.” he added.

“Hey, there you go!” Dr. Archaman exclaimed. “Just gotta stay positive, right?”

“W-Well, yeah...but I don’t even know her name...” Izuku admitted.

“...OK, baby steps, right?” Dr. Archaman responded, trying to put a positive spin on this. He leaned over the computer screen, giving Izuku a teasing smile. “Besides, you got a friend who just so happens to be a _girl?_ That’s more progress than a lot of people have made!”

Izuku jumped at the doctor’s remark, nearly choking on the remainder of the thin mint in his throat. After a couple of coughs and a short smack to his chest, he managed to get it down, before giving the doctor a very flustered reaction. “Th-That’s not w-what I meant! W-We just talked f-for a few minutes before I came in! Th-That’s all!”

The doctor gave a light laugh as he turned back to the computer. “Oh that’s how young love starts, my friend! By this time next month, though, I’m willing to bet she’ll be aaaaall...”

He trailed off mid-tease as he stared at the computer screen. Izuku watched him all the while, his flustered mood changing to a more anxious one, as the silence stretched on for much longer than he would like.

“...Dr. Archaman...?” he cautiously asked.

“...this can’t be right...” he heard the doctor mutter. He leaned past the screens to look at Izuku again, then back to the computer. “But...that would mean...”

Izuku wouldn’t find out what he was getting at, as they would both hear the sound of a powerful explosion, the shockwaves causing them both to shake in their seats. The lights in the room suddenly turned red, and an alarm could be heard blaring across the speakers.

“W-What the hell?!” the doctor exclaimed, getting out of his seat and tapping his wrist device. “Lev, come in! This is Romani! What just happened-” he started to ask, but stopped as he looked up. “ _Hey!_ ” he suddenly shouted.

Izuku was already on his feet and running for the door, throwing it open and dashing outside. As he ran down the hall, he heard the doctor call to him. “Where are you going?! The exit is in the other direction!”

He paid it no mind. He knew where he was going, his body having already made the decision before his head could think about it.

He had to get back into that meeting room. He had to make sure no one was hurt.

He had to do _something._

\------------------------------------

**(Now)**

Izuku’s eyes widened slightly in recognition, only to be replaced with a slightly awkward smile. “Yeah, of course I remember you, Dr. Archaman!”

Dr. Roman smiled in turn. “Ah, good!” he responded. After a moment, however, that look was replaced with a slightly suspicious one. “Wait, why did you say it like that?” he queried.

Izuku tensed up a bit, glancing involuntarily at Mash for a moment as he remembered the conversation he and the doctor had, before looking back to him. “A-Actually, I had a question, now that I think about it!” he brought up, eager to avoid where this could go. “Where were you when I went into the infirmary?” he asked.

Now it was the doctor’s turn to jolt and avoid looking at anyone directly, his hand finding the back of his neck as he answered. “Ah! W-Well, you know...there are some things a man has to do, after all!”

That just earned a confused look from the new Master, but a disappointed Mash soon clarified. “Dr. Roman...you were shirking your duties to watch your net idol again, weren’t you?”

“I-It was important!” Dr. Roman protested. “MagiMari’s the only thing keeping me going on days like this!”

Izuku almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing, not helped by Mash turning to him and continuing in the same disappointed tone. “Please don’t judge him too harshly, Senpai. Despite his irresponsible nature, Dr. Roman has a good side to him as well.”

“Mash, don’t make me look bad in front of the newbie!” Dr. Roman protested. “And hey, if we’re going to start asking personal questions, then I’ve got something for _you_ , Midoriya!” he then added.

Izuku, still trying to come to terms with the fact that the one medical official he knew was slacking off and watching a net idol of all things, (Was he an otaku? Is that why Mash knows about ‘Senpai’?) was unprepared for him to redirect his attention his way. Dreading what this could mean, he nevertheless cautiously responded with: “Y-Yes...?”

There was only a brief pause, before Dr. Roman exclaimed in a tense voice: “What exactly are your intentions with Mash?!”

Nope, Izuku was not prepared for that either. He very noticeably tensed up, his face turning a bright shade of red before he sputtered out an answer. “W-W-What are you t-talking about?!”

“Oh don’t play coy with me!” Dr. Roman responded, echoing the Director just a bit. “You walk into my office earlier, all ‘oh I just met this nice girl but I don’t even know what to say to her, Doctor what do I doooo?’ and expect me not to assume the worst?!”

“ _Th-That’s not what I said! That’s not even close to what I said!_ ” Izuku quickly retorted.

“It’s what you meant!” he fired back. “For all I know, you’re the one who got her to wear that outfit she has on!”

“Dr. Roman!” Mash cut in, looking quite embarrassed herself. “I already told you, the Heroic Spirit I was merged with gave me all of this! Senpai had nothing to do with it!”

“A likely story!” he answered, not moved by Mash’s defence. He then gave a heavy sigh and looked away from them. “Mash, I raised you to be smarter than this, and now you’ve fallen in line with some shady baby-faced stranger...I can feel my heart breaking just thinking about it!”

“Doctor, this is not the time for jokes!” she protested, looking to Izuku while she did. “Senpai looks like he’s about to pass out from the stress!”

Which was an accurate summation, as Izuku was no longer even looking directly at either of them, his head leaned back as his face only grew redder out of sheer embarrassment. The mention of Dr. Roman raising Mash and that he was acting as a father figure was not lost on him, and he most certainly did not take any of this as a joke. He was just so overwhelmed by these accusations that he didn’t even know where to begin.

Fortunately (though not really) Izuku would find a reprieve, as a familiar scream suddenly echoed from behind the other bridge support. Before anyone could question it, Olga Marie came running back, looking and sounding panicked as she ran right by the both of them. “More skeletons! You two, do something!” she shouted, before ducking behind the opposing support.

Sure enough, when the two looked at where she had come from, more of the Dragon Tooth Warriors had shuffled out from behind the bridge support, and were slowly making their way towards them. Mash reacted quickly, stepping in front of Izuku and readying her shield. “I’ve got this, Senpai!” she declared.

Izuku likewise snapped to attention, quick to respond to Mash. “OK, but be careful! We’re in a tighter space than we were last time, you’re not going to have as much room to move around!” he assessed. “So don’t rush in, let them come to you!”

Mash nodded, planting her shield upright in front of her. “Got it, Master!”

Sure enough, as Izuku surmised, the skeletons gradually approached, and a couple of them were at the forefront of the collective. One moved first, raising its sword in its typical slow, jerking gait. Mash got to it first, swinging the shield upwards, the long edge clashing against its arm, severing it and causing it to fall to the ground. Before the skeleton could react further, she jabbed one of the smaller edges at its head, the bone breaking under the impact and causing it to crumple completely.

Two more were right behind it, and Mash wasted no time with them either. Before the first could even make a move, she swung the long edge of the shield out, clashing against its spine and slicing it in two, both halves clattering to the ground. Remembering what Izuku had told her the last time, Mash spun to react to the other one, her elbow swinging out and ramming against its face, the skull splintering from the impact, another soldier fallen.

Izuku couldn’t help but be amazed at how quickly Mash was adapting to the situation. “Keep it up, Mash! You’re doing-” he started to shout to encourage her, but stopped suddenly when he saw something. His voice then changed to a panicked one. “Wait, Mash, _look out!_ ”

It was a hair too late, however, as Mash suddenly cried out, feeling something pierce into her. She looked to her shoulder to see a blade - not a sword, but the tip of a spear - sticking into it, blood starting to seep from the wound. Reacting quickly, she turned and swung her shield at the assailant, knocking it off of its feet entirely and sending it flying to the wall, only to plant her shield down in front of her right after. Mostly because the spear was still sticking into her arm, forcing her on the defensive.

“ _Mash!_ ” Izuku cried, panic setting in for him. He was already starting to move forward, only for someone to grab his arm. He turned to see the Director had come back out from hiding, rapidly shaking her head at him.

“Don’t you dare!” she shouted. “You still don’t know how to use your Magecraft yet! If you go out there again you’re just going to end up hurt!”

Izuku stared at her with an anxious expression, before looking to Mash, who was trying to protect herself as yet more skeletons struck at her shield with their spears. His eyes flitted across the battlefield, his mind running at full tilt, trying to think of a way around the problem Olga Marie proposed. His eyes fell on the one severed skeleton arm, still clutching a rusted sword.

“Midoriya, whatever you’re planning-” she started to say, but Izuku wasn’t fazed. He reached up and plucked Fou off of his head, handing him off to her.

“Fou, stay with the Director!” he called, before breaking away and running for the broken arm. Fortunately, the bones weren’t all that difficult to move, allowing him to retrieve the sword quickly.

“ _Midoriya!_ ” she shouted, but Izuku was already running into the fray. With a shout, he swung the rusty blade at the closest enemy to him, hitting the skeleton’s spine.

Which stuck in the bone. Leaving Izuku briefly immobile, as the skeleton in question slowly turned its head in his direction.

Well, at least he got its attention.

Thinking fast, he planted a foot on the skeleton’s chest and pushed back, which sent it stumbling against its comrades, but also sent Izuku stumbling flat on his back. He quickly rose to his feet, lifting up the sword and hurling it at the one skeleton. Which did hit, but stuck in its exposed ribs, not actually doing anything to hurt it. It wasn’t a lot, but it did give Mash some reprieve, letting him run to her and try to help her up.

“Mash, are you OK?!” he asked, forgetting that would sound kind of stupid given she still had a spear in her shoulder.

“I-I’ll be fine, S-Senpai!” she responded, her legs shaking as she got back to her feet. “Just get back, I can handle this!” she added, already stepping in front of him protectively.

Izuku was pretty sure she could not, but he wasn’t about to voice that. Instead, he put a hand on her undamaged shoulder. “Mash, step backwards with me!” he asked.

Mash looked to him in confusion, but did as he asked, taking a few steps backwards alongside him.

“Now, turn your shield on its side!” he added. Mash did just as he said, the long edge now parallel to the ground. Izuku grabbed onto this from behind, standing right beside her as he prepared his plan.

It was a gamble if this would even work, but with Mash’s shoulder hurt, he had to try it. He thought back to that moment when he swung that punch. If he could just recapture that feeling, even if for a second, it could make all the difference. He looked over to her, remembering the desire he had in that instance, changed just slightly.

 _Save her_.

This time, he felt it. The lines lighting up across his skin, spreading across his whole body. He already felt it heating up, meaning they had to act fast. He saw the skeletons rising up again, beginning their approach.

“Now! Ramming speed!” he called to Mash.

In unison, the two cried out and charged forward, crashing into the remaining horde of bones. They pushed across the width of the bridge above them, catching all of the skeletons in one movement. Before any of them had the sense to try and attack while caught against the shield, Izuku pushed off his part of the weapon. This allowed Mash to swing the shield in one large arc, sending half a dozen skeletons flying in pieces across the water, left to splash and sink to the river’s depths.

They both dropped to the ground right after, Izuku feeling the effects of his Circuits turning back off. It was only for a couple of seconds, but he still felt off as he cooled down. He turned to Mash after a moment, getting up and hurrying to her side again.

She winced as she knelt there, looking up to him after he approached. “Th-Thank you, Senpai...” she said, although she sounded apologetic when she spoke. “I’m sorry, you shouldn’t have needed to endanger yourself for me again...”

“It’s OK, don’t worry about that...” he answered, still sounding anxious for very obvious reasons. He moved around to the wounded shoulder, looking up and down the spear, starting to fret a bit as he was having trouble trying to think of what to do. “OK, first we need to get this out...”

“Are you sure you’re able to do that?” Olga Marie cautiously asked. She had approached after the battle was over, surveying the damage Mash had taken with a hesitant eye. “It’s not like it’ll just pop right out!”

“I-I know, but we still need it out before she can heal!” Izuku responded. After a moment’s contemplation, however, he froze up. “Ah, we need some kind of medical supplies!” He turned to the Director after declaring this, panicked all over again. “Director, did you bring anything like that with you?!”

The response was another blank stare from Olga Marie, before she closed her eyes and let a low growl out through clenched teeth. She then walked around in front of Mash. “Let me worry about that. You just get this thing out of her.” she ordered. “Just make sure to pull it straight out.”

Izuku blinked in surprise at this, but nodded. “R-Right!” he responded. He gripped down on the base of the spear, prompting a short involuntary whimper from Mash. He winced at this, speaking in as soothing a voice as he could manage, taking his own anxiousness into account. “Sorry Mash...it’ll be over in just a few seconds...”

Mash gave a slight nod, trying to put on a brave face. “I-It’s alright, Senpai...I’m ready.” she concluded. Olga Marie grabbed both sides of Mash’s shoulder to keep her steady, nodding up at Izuku.

“OK...” he hesitantly said. He gripped down tighter on the spear, inhaling deeply to steel his nerves. He let the breath out after a second. “Three...two...one...” he counted down, and after a short pause, he pulled.

The Director was right, it didn’t come out right away. The first pull caused it to only barely budge. The second had it slide a little more, just prompting another squeak of pain from Mash.

“Come on Midoriya, _pull!_ ” Olga Marie shouted. With a strained grunt, Izuku pulled with all the might he could muster without using his Circuits. There was a disgusting splattering sound, followed by Mash letting out a pained yell, but the spear was yanked free and tossed behind Izuku. Before he could say anything else, however, he saw Olga Marie’s hands glowing, radiating a faint green light over Mash’s wound. He watched in amazement as the wound began to close before his eyes.

“Good job, Mash, you’re going to be fine now.” Olga Marie stated as she continued her work. Before long, the wound was completely gone, with only the stain of Mash’s blood on her arm to indicate it had been there at all.

“Thank you, Director...” she replied, the both of them standing up soon after. They only had a moment’s reprieve, as Izuku suddenly drew closer with his eyes wide in awe.

“Director, that was _incredible!_ ” he suddenly exclaimed. “Is there any way you can teach me how to do that?!” he added, now appearing much more excited at the notion.

This earned another confused look from the Director, who simply replied: “Why? You can already do it, the spell’s in your Mystic Code.” When she got an equally confused look back, she sighed and shook her head. “Your uniform. It’s imbued with a few basic spells to help out in a pinch. Which means I’ll have to teach you how to do _that_ at some point as well...”

Before Izuku could think to question how exactly his white uniform with one too many belts across it could have magic implanted in it, Olga Marie stepped closer to him and pointed a finger just an inch away from his nose, causing him to jolt back. “More importantly!” she began, right back into an angrier mood. “Didn’t I tell you not to jump in like that?! Do you seriously not understand the situation going on here?! If the Master dies, then the Servant has no mana to work with, which means they’re as good as dead as well!”

Izuku was surprised by this outburst, much as he probably shouldn’t have been. What was more surprising is how he reflexively shouted right back at her. “I didn’t have a choice! Mash was hurt, I couldn’t just leave her out there! I had to do _something!_ ”

“So your ‘something’ was to run right in there and paint a target on you?!” she snapped back, oddly enough not fazed by this total nobody of a mage talking back to her.

“What else could I do?!” he retorted.

Olga Marie opened her mouth to respond again, but just as quickly closed it, instead lowering her head and pressing her hands to her temples. Izuku’s earlier stubbornness faded a bit, and he quickly tried to repair this by explaining himself better. “Director, I know you’re looking out for me, and I’m sorry, but I can’t just stand back and do nothing while someone else does all the fighting!”

“Senpai, you weren’t just ‘doing nothing’, though.” Mash intervened, an uncertain expression on her face. “You were giving me advice on how best to approach things. If it wasn’t for your quick thinking I likely would’ve been hurt or worse much sooner.”

Izuku turned to Mash with a slightly surprised and confused look. He hadn’t even thought of things from that angle, but it didn’t help all that much. “Well...yeah, but...” he started to say, but soon trailed off. He knew in his head that she was right, he had contributed to the battle and all. It still didn’t feel like _enough_ , though.

“Midoriya.” Olga Marie suddenly said. Izuku faced her again, only to be greeted with a tired stare. “Sit.” was her only statement.

“...I’m sorry?” he replied.

“ _Sit._ ” she repeated, now glaring more fiercely at him.

This time it worked, with Izuku almost automatically dropping down to the ground, sitting on his knees. Fou hopped down from Olga Marie’s shoulder and walked over to Izuku, returning to his favourite perch atop his head. The Director stared at them for a moment, before grumbling and shaking her head. “Alright, since you clearly don’t understand the severity of all of this, I’ll have to explain it to you. And I despise repeating myself, so you’d better appreciate it!”

Izuku flinched at the Director’s stern tone, then nodded rapidly. “Y-Yes ma’am! Thank you very much, ma’am!” he sputtered out.

“Well that was quite the personality switch...” Dr. Roman commented. Izuku reached over and cut the feed in response, mostly to avoid invoking her wrath any further. Which, considering she was glaring hard enough at him that he worried she’s burn a hole through his head, was probably the right call to make.

“Right. Let’s start from the top.” Olga Marie began. “First, Rayshifting. Do you know what that is, or were you completely unconscious by that point?”

“Um, Mash explained it to me before we found you.” he answered. “Basically, we’ve been sent back in time?”

“Yes. Good, that’s one thing we can skip over.” she concluded. She folded her arms before moving on. “So, you know how we got here. Do you know why?”

Izuku paused at her question, not really sure where this was going. “...because...something is wrong...?” he attempted.

“...to be _extremely_ broad, yes.” she answered, though she looked quite unimpressed as she did. She turned and started pacing back and forth as she began explaining. “One of the functions of Chaldea is to observe humanity’s future to ensure that we as a species continue to exist and prosper. Through the use of our Near-Future Observations Lens, SHEBA, we can see up to one hundred years into our future.” She paused for a moment, clearly taking notes from the speech she gave in the meeting room. “We suddenly observed humanity going dark, and the world turning grey and lifeless. In a year and a half from our present, the human race would simply vanish without a trace.”

She stopped here to let the weight of the danger they were facing sink in. After a moment’s pause, she resumed pacing. “We hadn’t detected any extinction-level events in the future, so whatever was going on, it must be in the past. So we used the Lens to search through Earth’s history, and we found something here, in this place and time. A Singularity, a black spot that we could not observe. Thus, we concluded that whatever would bring about humanity’s destruction, it was here.”

She stopped again, then turned to face Izuku. “Are you following so...” she started to ask, but trailed off while staring down at him. “...are you taking _notes?_ ” she wondered.

Sure enough, Izuku had a notepad in his hand as Olga Marie was speaking, rapidly jotting down everything he was being told, while Fou stood on his shoulder and watched him. He looked up at her at her question, blinking a couple of times before responding. “Should...should I not?”

“...you know what, never mind.” she relented, though she still found it a tad odd to do that. “Right, so, you are correct in that something is wrong here. Do you have any ideas on what that could be, Midoriya?” she asked to test him.

Izuku pondered this for a moment, before again cautiously asking: “...is it related to this ‘Holy Grail War’ at all...?”

“Most likely, yes.” the Director replied. Though she soon adopted a slightly suspicious look after a moment. “...judging by the way you said that, however, I’m guessing you don’t know what that is.” she remarked.

Izuku flinched slightly, then wore a sheepish smile. “S-Sorry, Mash started to explain, but then we heard you and had to focus on saving you...”

The remark earned a slight growl from the Director, but she said nothing in relation to that. “Right then, let’s cover that next.” she stated. She then resumed pacing as her explanation began. “A Holy Grail War is a battle between Masters and Servants, for the right to claim the aforementioned Grail. Whoever claims the Holy Grail will be able to make a wish upon it, so long as all of the other Servants are defeated first.” She paused for a moment, glancing back at Izuku as he continued to jot down information, then pressed on.

“As I assume you don’t actually know what Servants are, I’ll cover that too.” she continued. “A Servant is a Heroic Spirit made into a familiar, the highest class of familiar that we have access to, and one of the few instances of True Magic that exists in the modern day. _That_ is why it is so significant to become a Master; it’s only supposed to happen once every generation, and to only a handful of mages. A Servant manifesting at all is nothing short of a miracle by our standards.”

Izuku looked up as Olga Marie explained all of this, beginning to understand the significance of all of this, even if only slowly. She continued: “Since I’m sure you’re wondering it, a Heroic Spirit is a figure from our long and storied history. A warrior who slew many on the field of battle. A king who ruled a nation and rose it to great prosperity. A mage who brought about miracles. A figure who changed the world as a whole. It is beings such as these that are added to the Throne of Heroes when they die, and through the ritual of the Holy Grail, can be summoned to aid present-day humanity.”

This definitely got Izuku’s attention, his eyes widening and excitement briefly overtaking him. “H-Heroes from human history?!” he exclaimed. “So, you mean people like Miyamoto Musashi, or Sakamoto Ryouma, or Tomoe Gozen, or Minamoto no Yoshitsune?!” he asked, just as a start.

Both Olga Marie and Mash were staring at him in surprise after this sudden outburst. The latter found this excitable part of him a little bit endearing, while the former was more focused on trying to answer. “W-Well, yes, I’m sure figures like those and many more are in the Throne.” she replied. She internally noted how typical it was that he’d list off Japanese names, but had the restraint not to say that aloud. “However, it is impossible to summon a Heroic Spirit in its entirety, so a fragment of them is used instead to make a Servant. This fragment is based on the skills they had in life, and thus they are placed into a class that best reflects those.” she continued, opting not to focus on his fanboyism. “Saber. Archer. Lancer. Rider. Caster. Assassin. Berserker.” she listed off, certain he was writing those down. “So, for example, Miyamoto Musashi would be a Saber, since he is renowned for his swordsmanship. However, he wouldn’t qualify for something such as Rider, or Archer, since he never had anything to do with those feats in his life.”

Izuku nodded emphatically as he wrote all of this down, his mind running wild with all the possibilities this now brought up. For once he didn’t end up descending into muttering frantically, instead directing his attention to Mash. “So that means you’re one of these too, right Mash?! Which one are you?!” he excitedly asked.

Mash’s face lit up with a blush at the question, though it was more one of embarrassment as she looked away from Izuku. “S-Sorry, Senpai...I’m not any of them...” she admitted. More because of what else she wasn’t, which she hoped he wouldn’t ask her about.

He tilted his head in clear confusion at this, to which Olga Marie sighed and stepped to Mash’s side. “I didn’t want to get into this, but there are other classes besides the main seven. We’ll worry about those later. In Mash’s case, I can confirm that she is the first ever Shielder Servant.” she explained. She then gestured to the giant shield that Mash was still carrying. “As if that wasn’t evident already.”

Izuku nodded in understanding, only for his eyes to light up again before he rose his hand like he was in class. “Oh! Director, you said something about a ‘Noble Phantasm’ earlier! Can you explain what that is?”

“Didn’t I ask you at the start of all this to not act like a student?!” the Director snapped. Izuku’s hand shot back down as he gave a short yelp, but Olga Marie simply continued. “A Noble Phantasm is a Servant’s biggest secret. A crystallization of their legend. In most cases, a weapon that they’re most known for using, or a skill they’ve developed over their lives.” She paused after clarifying this, then looked over at Mash. “What _is_ your Noble Phantasm, anyway?” she asked.

Mash tensed up at the question, again looking away from both the Director and Izuku. “I-I’m sorry...I don’t know the name of my Noble Phantasm...” she admitted.

“You don’t know?” the Director asked, now taken aback. “How could you _not_ know?”

“The Heroic Spirit merged with me didn’t tell me that, or their True Name. They only gave me what I needed and then faded into my subconscious.” she clarified.

Olga Marie frowned while Izuku just looked a bit confused over all of this. “...well, we’ll just have to work on that, I suppose.” the Director concluded. “If the enemies don’t know what your Noble Phantasm is, they don’t know what your weaknesses are.” she continued in a surprisingly positive manner. She then turned back to Izuku to continue her lecture. “This is also why in a typical war, a Servant will go by their class name instead of their True Name. For example, if Achilles was summoned as a Servant and went around telling everyone who he was, everyone would know to attack his heel, since he’s famous for that being his weak spot.”

Izuku nodded in understanding, adding that to his notes. After a second of this, however, he slowly lifted his head again. “Wait...Achilles is just a myth though.” he remarked.

Olga Marie grumbled and shook her head, looking away from Izuku and opting not to answer that. It took a moment for it to sink in, but sink in it did. His eyes widened in realization at this, and his mind again ran wild with the possibilities this presented. “Achilles is real, then?! But if he’s real, then that must mean the Trojan War actually happened! And if that happened, then that would mean the Greek pantheon actually existed too! Gods were actually real! Or, maybe they’re still around?! But is it just the Greek gods? Or did other gods exist too? Is this a situation where all the deities existed simultaneously? If that’s the case, then other mythical figures would’ve existed as well. So did people like Robin Hood actually exist? Or Xuanzang Sanzang? Or Sasaki Kojirou? Then that could also mean all the famous events that took place in their time periods really happened. That would mean creatures like giants and dragons and monsters all actually existed! But why don’t they exist anymore? Why don’t we see those now?”

Olga Marie was once again left to stare in disbelief at Izuku as he went off on this tangent of his, muttering to himself all the while about this subject. She slowly turned to look at Mash as he continued, to which she could only give an awkward smile and a shrug. “I-I’ve found that Senpai sometimes does this when he gets curious about something...” she admitted.

“...right.” was all the Director could offer in response. She slowly looked back at Izuku, watching him continue to mutter rapidly to himself, until it went on just a bit too long for her liking. “Midoriya!” she called to get his attention.

“Ah-!” Which it did, snapping Izuku out of this state and causing him to nervously stare up at her. “R-Right, sorry!” he squeaked out.

The Director stared at him for a second or two longer, unsure of what to even make of this, before shaking her head again and continuing. “All of this to get to one very important point, Midoriya.” she began. “Whether it’s here or in the future, odds are we will run into enemy Servants at some point.” After saying this, she stepped forward and poked a finger right between Izuku’s eyebrows. “If and when that happens, _you will not engage them._ A Servant’s strength is many times higher than that of a mortal being. If you even tried to fight one yourself, you’d end up a red stain on the ground before the first punch was ever thrown. Got that?” she explained sternly.

The thought of being taken down that quickly was definitely a frightening one, so Izuku quickly nodded in compliance. “Y-Yes ma’am, I understand!” he answered.

She slowly raised an eyebrow, an indication that she wasn’t as willing to believe him. The eyebrow lowered. “Repeat that back to me.” she commanded.

“...if we encounter enemy Servants, I am not to engage.” he nervously repeated.

“Good.” she answered. She then withdrew her finger and turned away from them both. “Now, the longer we stay in one place, the better chance we have of running into more danger. There’s nothing here to indicate what the source of this Singularity is, so we should find another landmark to investigate.” she concluded. She then started walking while motioning for them to follow. “Let’s go!”

Sure enough, Izuku was on his feet and following behind Mash as they moved to catch up to her. He had a lot to mull over now. The existence of mythical beings, finding out that Servants were all famous heroes from history, the truth of what a Holy Grail War was, what their mission here in Fuyuki really was, how the world was supposed to end in the near future; all of this and more whirled through his head.

In addition to that, however, he also watched Mash as they walked and thought about how uncomfortable she looked admitting that she wasn’t aware of her own power, or of the name of the Spirit she merged with. He wasn’t quite sure why, it wasn’t her fault that the Spirit wasn’t forthcoming with that information.

Surely that was a problem that was easily solved, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The upside to the Fuyuki Singularity is that it's a nice crash course for those who aren't familiar with Fate. The downside is that there's a whole lotta more exposition to cover.
> 
> I'm going to try to pace myself a bit more with chapters going forward so I don't burn out too fast. So don't be too shocked if the upload rate slows from here on. I don't wanna end up giving up on this idea, so hopefully I'm making the right call here.
> 
> I'm seeing all the questions you guys are asking, by the by. I might do a short Q&A chapter after the Fuyuki Singularity is done so I can answer some of them. Key word being "some", since I can't give away any spoilers or anything. Point is, keep 'em coming! I'm glad that what I've done so far is making you curious enough to keep reading!


	5. Fuyuki: Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The investigation continues to draw up nothing of note, the Director starts to understand Izuku, for better and for worse.

# Pinned Down at the Harbour

Izuku had a lot to think about.

The world was going to come to an end. To prevent this, he had travelled back in time to correct something that had been changed, even though he didn’t know what that something was. He had suddenly acquired magic, or Magecraft, or whatever it was called, through means no one could quite figure out. He was now a ‘Master’ as well, with the new girl he’d just met earlier that day as his ‘Servant’, much as the thought made him a bit uncomfortable. He also had to deal with a Director who clearly really didn’t want him to be there. Not to mention learning that all of history and mythology existed simultaneously somehow and the world was far more different than he’d come to understand.

Moments such as these required time and careful contemplation, to come to terms with all of this new information, and to decide just how he felt about all of it. The responsibilities, the implications, what he’d have to unlearn and relearn; all of it wasn’t something he could completely come to terms with right away, and he needed to think it over.

Which was a little hard to do when they were under attack again.

“Why can we not go five minutes without running into more of these damned skeletons?!” an incensed Olga Marie shouted from behind Mash.

The group had made their way towards the harbour to continue their search for any signs of the anomaly that made up Singularity F. Naturally, with the legions of the undead covering the landscape, they were lucky to make it there without rousing trouble. Of course, that didn’t last long, and after their search turned up fruitless, they found themselves under attack once more.

Worse, all of the skeletons assaulting them were archers, forcing Izuku and Olga Marie to hide behind Mash’s shield as they endured the attack.

“Director, it took us a lot longer than five minutes to get down here!” Izuku commented, trying to put a positive spin on the situation. “Comparatively speaking, we’ve been pretty fortunate to avoid danger until now!”

“Well it _feels_ like it’s only five minutes!” the Director replied, not willing to give in to his optimism. “It’s not like it was that far of a walk from the bridge to here!”

Izuku flinched as he heard the sounds of arrows clashing against Mash’s shield, but he still ended up blurting out what was on his mind. “D-Director, weren’t you complaining about how tired you were before we got here...?”

“Midoriya, stop correcting me and do something _useful!_ ” she snapped back. Clearly he needed to be more careful with letting his mouth run in a stressful situation.

He waited for a second, his nervous expression shifting to a more focused one. He trained his ears attentively, trying to ignore the sounds of the ongoing fire close by, or the sounds of the Director’s fixed breathing nearly right by his head.

He heard the arrows hit Mash’s shield again, and quickly counted off the number of times the shield rang with the sounds of impact. “There’s at least five of them.” he announced, before looking up at Mash. “Mash, which one is the closest?” he asked.

Mash’s eyes were focused entirely on what was before them, peeking up over her shield between volleys of arrows. “Approximately five meters in front of us, Senpai!” she called back. “I think they’re trying to force us into the water!” she added, sounding tense and anxious over the thought.

Indeed, in their search for clues they had been placed very close to the edge of the concrete harbour. Izuku and Olga Marie were able to see their reflections in the darkened water, and a few more good pushes would send them tumbling into its depths, which would surely bring about an early end to their journey. So, Izuku had to act fast.

“OK, when I say go, you charge forward as fast as you can and take it out!” he called to Mash. “The Director and I will be right behind you!”

“But won’t I be leaving you exposed in that case?!” she responded in a frightened tone.

“Only for a second!” he explained. “If we stay close by, and if you plant your shield as soon as the enemy is beaten, we’ll be fine!” Probably, anyway, but he was careful enough not to actually say that.

“...I’m not exactly on board with this idea, but we’re low on options!” the Director added. “But you’re going in front of me, Midoriya!” she then demanded, as if Izuku wasn’t already going to do that.

He simply nodded in reply, then listened attentively once more. A few seconds passed, and he heard the sounds of the arrows hitting the shield again. “Now!” he called out.

Mash let out a cry and rushed forward, Izuku on his feet in seconds and following, and Olga Marie right behind as planned. Before the skeleton could finish loading another arrow, Mash swung her shield upwards, the long edge crashing against its jaw, sending its skull flying up off of the body entirely. As the body crumpled to the ground, she immediately planted her shield in front of her, providing cover for them once again.

“One down!” she declared.

“Alright, Mash!” Izuku called back in a supportive tone. “Now, where’s the next one?”

There was a brief pause as Mash surveyed the area before them, before she answered. “It’s approximately ten meters ahead and to my right! But there’s another one five meters behind that and to my left! If I rush in to attack the first, I don’t think I can reach it before the second fires another shot!”

Izuku grumbled as he tried to think of a solution for this. “If only we had some kind of long-range weapon right now...” he muttered. He then looked over to the Director, who was kneeling beside him again. “Does my uniform have anything like that, Director?” he asked.

The Director frowned at Izuku’s question, seemingly contemplating something for a moment or two. She then shook her head and rolled up one of her sleeves. “No, but I’ve got something we can do instead!” To demonstrate this, an orb of red and black energy started to form in front of her fingertips, much to Izuku’s wide-eyed awe. She didn’t dwell on this, however, instead calling to Mash. “Get us a few meters closer!”

“Right!” Mash responded. After another volley of arrows clashed against her shield, she lifted it and rushed forward, clearing half of the distance between her and the enemy. Another volley flew and hit the iron, and both Izuku and Olga Marie popped up over Mash’s shoulders as the Director aimed.

“ _Gandr!_ ” she called out. The bolt of red and black arced across the harbour, quickly clashing with the skeleton’s head, shattering the skull and sending the bones falling back into the water.

“Second one down!” Mash reported, both non-Servants ducking back behind her. Izuku opened his mouth to say something, but Olga Marie quickly cut him off.

“If you’re about to ask me to teach this to you, Midoriya, save it!” she snapped. “In case you’ve forgotten, you’re not even supposed to know about magic in the first place!”

This both disappointed and shocked Izuku, considering that would be a really useful skill to have. Not to mention all the information she’d dumped on him shortly before now, and _this_ was something she was going to hold her ground on? “D-Director, we’re in a dire situation, isn’t this a good time to make an exception?!” he nervously asked.

“That’s no excuse! Mages don’t just reveal all of their secrets at the drop of a hat, you know!” she retorted. Mash hefted her shield and took a few strides forward to get closer to the next target, the others following her in turn. “Besides, even if I _did_ want to teach you, it’s not exactly something you can learn over the course of a few hours!” she added, before peeking over Mash’s shoulder and firing another shot.

The third skeleton’s skull likewise shattered on impact, more bones falling into the deep. “Third one down!” Mash reported. “The next is twelve meters ahead, atop a part of the ruined road!”

“Wait for the next volley, then move in closer!” Izuku shouted. He then turned his attention back to the Director, not about to let this go that easily. “Director, isn’t there something else I can learn for situations like this? There must be something that’s OK for me to know, even given the circumstances!” _Especially_ given the circumstances, he thought.

“When are you going to get it through your head that isn’t your job?” she responded, as the three of them moved once more, now off of the harbour and back into the city itself. “Just stay back, keep giving commands, and be as adequate a magic battery for Mash as you can be!” she continued, before peeking up and firing another Gandr shot at the fourth skeleton.

Once it likewise fell, Olga Marie ducked back down and shouted again to Mash. “OK Mash, where’s the last one?”

There was a pause as Mash quickly surveyed the landscape, only for her eyes to widen when they fell upon the last enemy. “It’s twenty meters ahead...but it’s atop one of the fallen buildings!” she answered.

The Director flinched in realization, before peeking over Mash’s shoulder, Izuku doing the same. Sure enough, the final enemy was perched atop a crumbling building, far above them. “Th-That’s not good! My Gandr shots can’t reach that high!” the Director admitted, probably without meaning to.

Both non-Servants dropped back down, while Izuku quickly formulated a plan. It was a very risky one, but this was a situation that required a bit of risk. “Mash, how’s your throwing arm?” he asked, looking back at her.

Mash looked back at him with a slightly bewildered expression, not quite following where this was going. “Um...I-I think it’s...pretty good?” she answered as best she could.

“Wait!” the Director cut in. “Midoriya, you’re not about to suggest what I think you’re about to suggest, are you?”

“It would work!” Izuku responded. “If we get in close enough, and if Mash throws her shield hard enough, it should take the last one out!”

“And we’d be throwing away our one line of defence!” she retorted. “If she misses, we’d have to immediately run for cover before it hits one of us!”

“What other option is there?!” he shouted back. “You can’t shoot that high, and I don’t have anything to throw at him either! If we try to run there’s no guarantee he won’t follow us or hit us anyway!”

Olga Marie grit her teeth in frustration, unable to think of an alternative to what Izuku was proposing. He, in turn, moved up slightly and placed a hand on Mash’s shoulder, now encouraging her. “You can do this! Just imagine that your shield is a giant boomerang!”

“ _That’s_ your analogy?!” Olga Marie cried out, but Mash actually seemed to be mulling it over. After a brief moment of contemplation, she looked to Izuku with a more confident smile.

“OK Senpai! If you believe in me, I’ll do it!” she exclaimed.

“ _Seriously?!_ ” the Director protested, but it was now out of her hands. The sound of an arrow smacking against the shield was heard, and Mash was on the move right after. Izuku was right behind, so naturally the Director had no choice but to follow as well.

“Get as close to the base of the building as you can, then throw it straight up!” Izuku shouted as they moved. Sure enough, they came to a stop right beside the building, Mash holding her shield up to block the next shot.

“Wait, why are we this close?!” Olga Marie demanded to know. “How is she supposed to hit it from here?!”

“Just trust me on this!” he responded. “Once the next shot lands, we need to back away and give her room!”

The Director again gave Izuku a look of utter befuddlement at this idea, but there wasn’t enough time to debate it. The next arrow clashed against the shield again, acting as the signal for his plan to unfold.

“ _Now!_ ” he called, grabbing the Director’s wrist and running a few paces back. At the same time, Mash hefted her shield up, grabbing the upper edge and holding the whole thing horizontally in front of her. Once the other two were clear, she began spinning in place, swinging the shield around in the same motion. Once, twice, thrice, and with a cry Mash flung the shield up into the air, watching it spin up the side of the building. The skeleton was already aiming another shot down at them, putting it in the perfect position. The shield swung up, the long edge hitting the side of its jaw, the force sending the whole body flying away and off of the building, the bones scattering on the ground soon after.

“It _worked?!_ ” Olga Marie cried out.

“Senpai, it worked!” Mash shouted excitedly, looking over her shoulder to Izuku while pointing up at what just happened.

Izuku, surprisingly, was less enthused, instead pointing up at the same general area himself while speaking hurriedly. “OK, Mash, you need to get clear now!”

Mash wore a more confused look after that, not sure what Izuku was driving at. “Get clear...?” she uttered. She turned to look at her shield, which was now falling through the air.

Right towards her.

From over fifty meters up.

“Ah.” she said.

“O-OK, Mash, seriously, you gotta move!” Izuku shouted, panic starting to take him. “If that falls on you it’s...well, it’s really gonna hurt!” he added.

“N-No, it’s OK, I’ve got it!” she responded, holding her hands up to try and catch the falling shield.

“No, Mash, just get clear and then pick it back up!” Olga Marie chimed in, starting to worry as well.

“I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” Mash kept shouting, seemingly to encourage herself as much as them.

“Mash, please, _move!_ ” Izuku yelled, seeing how close the shield was to hitting her.

“I’ve got it!”

The shield fell closer and closer, before connecting with a resounding clang from the object. Both Izuku and Olga Marie had instinctively flinched away from the impact. After a second or two, they anxiously turned to face what had happened.

They were rewarded with the sight of Mash holding the shield over her head like it was weightless, facing them with a proud smile on her face. “I got it, Senpai!” she said triumphantly.

“You _did_ get it!” he responded, actually jumping for joy once before running over to her, equally relieved and amazed by her efforts. “That was incredible, Mash! I knew you had it in you!”

“Th-Thank you, Senpai!” she answered, her face starting to blush at the praise she was receiving. “I couldn’t have done it without you!”

Olga Marie was still stunned at the sheer audacity of the plan and how it unfolded, but it _did_ work. She couldn’t argue with that. She likewise approached the two as Mash lowered her shield. “I have to admit, I am impressed.” she acquiesced. Although it would soon become clear that she was only talking about one of them. “One really can’t understand the strength of a Servant unless they see it firsthand.”

Mash remained embarrassed at the compliment, although for different reasons than before. “Thank you, Director...” she said while averting her eyes. “However, I am only half of a Servant. And without knowing my Noble Phantasm, or the name of the Heroic Spirit bonded to me, I can’t even use the extent of that power...”

Following this, she looked to Izuku again, bowing her head slightly, much to his surprise. “I’m sorry, Senpai. Despite my insistence on forging our contract, I have actually burdened you with more trouble than you should have. Having to work with a weakened Servant like me isn’t at all fair to you...”

Izuku’s initial response was just to stare at Mash in completely confusion, nothing that she was saying making a degree of sense. “Mash, what are you talking about?” he asked. He took a step forward and placed a hand on her shoulder, which caused her to jolt a bit and look up at him again. Not that this deterred him from continuing. “It isn’t _your_ fault the Heroic Spirit didn’t tell you their name, or what your Noble Phantasm was.” He then offered her a wide, encouraging smile. “You’re doing the best you can with what you _do_ have. That makes you a lot stronger than most, if you ask me! So don’t be so hard on yourself!” he finished, while completely missing the irony of _him_ saying that.

Mash was again left to stare back at Izuku with a surprised and awestruck expression, hearing a version of her words to the Director repeated back to her. She allowed herself a small, warm smile, nodding slightly after a moment’s pause. “Thank you, Senpai...it means a lot to hear you say that.” she said.

The Director, for her part, watched this exchange for a moment and slowly began to understand just why Mash had gotten so attached to Izuku. Even so, it left her feeling divided.

On the one hand, Mash contracting with a Master who would encourage her to keep pushing herself was the best choice she could’ve hoped for. Considering she was coming into this metaphorically handicapped, someone who would look past that and see her for her strengths, as opposed to your typical mage who would ridicule her for her weaknesses, was the right one.

On the other hand, the fact that said Master was Izuku Midoriya - someone who wasn’t born a mage, someone who knew nothing about the mage world - presented a number of problems. Sure, it was probably _because_ he was coming into this with no knowledge that he was able to be so accommodating to Mash, but his lack of understanding in so many other fields meant he was woefully unprepared for what lay ahead. There was also still the question of if he even _should_ learn about these things. She told him about the Singularities and the Holy Grail War because they were necessary details related to their current situation. Anything beyond that, though, meant further involving him in a world he shouldn’t be part of. He may have a Magic Crest and Magic Circuits now, but frankly, he still posed a risk to all of them if he wasn’t adequately bought off or silenced. If the Mage’s Association found out about him, he’d have every available Enforcer on him right away, no questions asked. Even if the circumstances around him were an anomaly, they couldn’t risk him telling anyone anything.

In the end, she couldn’t be sure of what to do. Ideally, she’d pull whatever strings she could to send him and his family into hiding with new identities. That was the bare minimum he deserved, especially since he _did_ save her life once. The fact that the only thing he ever asked for from her was to find a way to include his parents in on the secret was a bit of a blow to her pride. Any other mage would demand riches or favour with the Clock Tower, or some family secret, and the thought seemingly never entered his mind. If anything, he was insistent on doing more to help. It frustrated her to think about. Clearly Mash wasn’t going to let him go either, so it seemed like her hands were tied.

Just who _was_ this boy? Why would he go so far for two people he didn’t know?

“That said, maybe we could just figure out who the Spirit is ourselves?” Izuku asked, breaking Olga Marie’s train of thought. “There aren’t very many who are known for using only a shield, I don’t think...” he continued, staring at the shield Mash was still holding. His eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers. “What about Ajax, from the Trojan War? He was known for carrying a shield so powerful that he never took damage in battle!”

Mash seemed to think about this for a moment, humming carefully. After some brief contemplation, however, she shook her head. “No, I don’t think so...I can’t explain, but I have a feeling that isn’t right...” she explained.

Izuku frowned slightly, but nodded in understanding. “Alright...then what about King Leonidas from Sparta? After all, just about everyone’s heard about him defending the kingdom with only three hundred men!” he considered.

Again, Mash thought about this, but looking disappointed she shook her head again. “No, sorry...as encouraging as that would be, I don’t think that’s it either...” she admitted.

Izuku hummed again, sounding a little confused. “Not sure who, then...there must be someone else I’m forgetting...” he mused.

“You can figure it out once we get back to Chaldea.” Olga Marie intruded, deciding it was time to drop this. She turned and faced away from the harbour, pointing back to the city. “There wasn’t anything here related to the anomaly, so let’s get moving again.” With that declaration made, she began walking once more, expecting the other two to follow her.

Which they did, soon catching up to her, and Mash being the first to air a concern that they both shared. “Director, are you certain the anomaly is related to the Holy Grail War?” she cautiously asked.

“Positive.” the Director immediately answered. “Nothing else of significance happened in Fuyuki in 2004. To the outside world, it was simply an ordinary Japanese city, where nothing important ever happened. To those who know better, it was the site of a battle that changed the course of our history.”

Izuku still found it hard to believe something this big happened so close to home, and he never knew. To think, right around this time, in another part of the country, he was still chasing his impossible dream, still hoping that he could be blessed with his Quirk and become a hero.

Did he receive that diagnosis today, of all days? Was he at home right now, crying while watching that footage he’d seen hundreds of times? Was he asking his mother if he could still be a hero, while knowing in his heart what the answer was?

He shook his head, eager to get that thought out of it, and focused on what was ahead. “It was so significant that changing it could bring about the end of the world?” he asked, a part of him still wondering if such a thing was even possible, and so soon.

“Evidently so.” the Director curtly replied. “The Phenomenon Recording Cyber-Daemon, LAPLACE, is another invention of Chaldea. It records all information about the history of the world; both things that the public knows, and things they do not. With that, we learned that the Fuyuki Holy Grail War was carried out in secret, and that the Saber Servant and their Master were the ones who were victorious. The simple fact that the city is engulfed in flames right now should indicate just how much things have changed.” she explained.

Mash was the next to speak again, still sounding uncertain about all of this. “It’s so strange to think that this one Holy Grail War was so significant...it wasn’t even the first to occur here, was it?” she asked.

“It wasn’t, no.” Olga Marie responded. “It was the fifth. Even so, the Servant Summoning System they used was deemed important enough that Chaldea based our own, FATE, off of it. That alone determines this place and time’s significance.”

“Was that how Mash was fused with this other Heroic Spirit?” Izuku wondered.

At this, Olga Marie stopped walking and looked back at him. For a moment, she seemed hesitant to answer, her eyes darting to the ground for a moment. “...yes, though there were...unique circumstances around that.” she eventually replied. “That Spirit was the second that Chaldea had summoned through FATE. The first, unfortunately, I know nothing about. Information on them is non-existent. As for the third...” she trailed off, this time looking more exasperated than anything else. “...well, you’ll meet them soon enough. They’re just a bit eccentric, to put it nicely. Don’t be surprised if you get tired of them within the first conversation.”

That rather vague answer left Izuku puzzled, but he didn’t have long to think it over before the Director spoke again. “Now, Midoriya, you keep your distance. I need your eyes and ears on anything approaching us from behind. Mash, you get up here with me.”

The orders were a little confusing, with Izuku and Mash looking at each other for a moment, unsure of what to do. Mash soon acquiesced and approached Olga Marie, and the two resumed walking. A few paces later, Izuku followed, glancing over his shoulder as they walked

After a bit, however, it soon became clear what the real reason was for the Director’s decision, as he heard them start to talk among themselves. Olga Marie must’ve thought he wouldn’t hear them.

“Mash, are you _sure_ about him...?” she said first, sounding more concerned than anything again.

“Director, please, don’t...” Mash started to protest.

“Just hear me out for a moment, OK? I get it, he’s being really nice to you, and clearly he’s your friend now. But he’s still so ill-equipped for this environment. Not to mention, with his Magic Circuits still underused, he can’t be giving you that much magical energy to work with.”

“Whether he is or he isn’t, there’s still only so much that I can do. I’ve made up my mind, Director. I won’t be swayed by anything.”

“Not even his safety? You saw what happened when he first activated his Circuits. I keep having to tell him not to do that again, but I can tell he’s just itching to dive in and help you directly. Despite it being reckless and dangerous. If we make it out of this, how can you be sure he won’t do that on any future missions?”

“...I will admit, it does worry me a bit...”

“I won’t tell you to exchange your contract now, but when this is over, and we can call for help again, I’ll bring in another Master candidate to work with you. I’ll even personally screen them to make sure they’re as compatible with you as him, alright?”

“Director...I’m really not sure about this...”

“Just give it some thought, OK? This is just as much for his well-being as it is yours. He’ll be safer working at Chaldea than out here.”

Izuku looked crestfallen, but held his tongue as he followed behind them. Fou, still nestled in his hair even during the earlier battle, hopped down to his shoulder and lightly pawed at his cheek. Wordlessly, he picked up the animal and held him in his arms, lightly stroking his back.

He still couldn’t fully believe that things were this dire. Maybe it was because he was so close to it and had to keep moving, but it was only starting to sink in that the entire world was at stake. Even if the idea was so hard to visualize. Some sort of epic battle with villains, or a gradual decay of the world, he could understand that. Even a meteor hitting the earth or some sort of natural disaster taking everything out? That all made sense to him. But the Earth just blipping out of existence in the blink of an eye? In a way that not even the people predicting it could make sense of? It just sounded totally incomprehensible, and he couldn’t get his brain to imagine it.

However, if things _were_ that bad, what should he do? Shouldn’t he focus on what the most optimal result would be, rather than what seemed emotionally right? Mash was insistent that the contract between them was maintained, and that did mean something to him. She was putting his faith in him to support her, and that meant a lot to him. But giving her orders and supplying only a minimum of magic wasn’t enough, it seemed.

What if at least part of the reason she couldn’t remember anything about the Heroic Spirit connected to her was this? If she had more magic to draw from, or could work with a Master that could figure this out, she would be better off, wouldn’t she? Even if it wouldn’t make her happy, if it could make her as strong as he was certain she could be, wasn’t that better?

What was the right thing to do here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last time, I say I'm gonna pace myself. This time, the chapter ends up shorter, so I post soon anyway. Go figure.
> 
> I hope I'm doing a decent job with these fight scenes. Those have usually been my weakness before now.


	6. Fuyuki: Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The investigation takes a turn, the first true threat is presented.

# Trial By Fire

Izuku had never thought of himself as the religious sort. It was never something that came up at home; his parents always had other things on their mind, for one reason or another, and he was far too wrapped up in his hero worship to consider worshipping God. He couldn’t say he had any real attachment to organized religion in one way or the other, then.

Even so, coming across a church left in such an awful state, in the wake of everything that was happening around them, was disturbing. It communicated that even a place that was meant to act as a safe haven was far from that. Nothing was sacred to what was behind this. It wasn’t as if fire could discriminate, after all.

The white walls that made up the exterior of the building were mostly blackened with soot and ash. One of the sloped roofs on the church’s right side had started to cave in, a large hole having formed. What exactly could’ve made that was anyone’s guess. The arch on the same side at the front had been caved in, rubble littering the pavement leading to the building. The painted windows had been shattered, the glass scattered all over, numerous shards left outside for them to step over. The large double doors that led inside were blasted inwards, one on the floor and the other hanging in a windowsill at the back of the church. The cross atop the building was gone; to where, no one could guess.

Inside wasn’t much better. What seats weren’t thrown aside entirely were mostly broken, with only a handful still usable. The altar at the back of the room was left in pieces as well, the Bible that would normally be atop it nowhere to be seen. The white walls were just as soot-covered as the ones outside, if one could even notice that when not looking at the craters and chunks of wood and plaster that had been torn out.

Worse were the bloodstains. They were scattered haphazardly around the room, with no indication of what had shed them. The blood had been dry for some time, meaning the church had been like this for just as long, with no signs of life anywhere. It was easy to deduce that a battle had taken place there, but between who and why was something Izuku almost didn’t want to think about.

As the trio stepped further into the church, the reality of what they had been involved with was gradually seeping in for him. This ‘Holy Grail War’ had turned into an outright massacre. He was starting to question if anyone in Fuyuki had actually survived the conflict. It painted a rather grim picture of the skeletons they had spent all this time fighting, one he didn’t want to dwell on if at all possible.

“So, even this place didn’t make it...” Olga Marie mused, having moved a bit further ahead of the other two as they entered. She trailed her fingers along one of the long benches, frowning uneasily. “I had hoped we might finally get some answers here, but it looks like we were too late. Or maybe we never had a chance at all...” she commented.

“Why would this place be significant?” Izuku asked without thinking, still in a bit of a daze after coming to realize what had happened here.

“Is it connected to the Holy Church, Director?” Mash chimed in.

“It is, yes.” she answered, nodding before looking back at them. “A member of the Holy Church, Kirei Kotomine, was chosen to be the mediator for this Holy Grail War. It was his job to ensure everyone followed the guidelines set out, and didn’t allow the War to become public knowledge. Despite our differences, the Church is just as dedicated to keeping the magic world a secret from humans as the Association is.” she continued, before looking ahead at the ruined altar. “But if things got _this_ bad, it’s only rational to assume he wouldn’t survive either...”

Mash nodded in turn, though she looked just as uneasy as the Director did. After a second, she turned to a confused Izuku and quickly clarified. “The Holy Church is another organization that has historically been enemies to the Mage’s Association. While the Association wishes to preserve magic and Mystery as much as possible, the Church seeks to destroy it, believing it to be better for all of mankind. In more recent years, they’ve entered an uneasy truce, so they are technically allies of ours.”

“’Technically’ being the operative word.” a reappearing Dr. Roman chimed in, causing Izuku to lift his wrist to stare at the hologram. “Really, when you get down to it, they’re just a different kind of bad from the higher-ups of the Association. If they deem something or someone as heretical, they waste no time erasing them from existence.” he added.

Izuku grimaced at the thought. He lifted his head up and called to the Director. “If the Church and the Association are at odds, why would a Church member manage a battle between mages?”

Olga Marie didn’t answer, still wandering down the aisle to the altar, muttering something to herself. Dr. Roman hummed and answered instead. “It’s part of the agreement between them and the Association. Since the Holy Grail _is_ recognized as a holy relic, allowing the Church to monitor the War is a way to placate them so they don’t just upend the whole ritual themselves.” He paused, then added with a slightly exasperated tone: “Not that they don’t try to anyway...”

Izuku nodded in understanding, but he was still watching the Director the whole time, looking concerned as she wandered around. “She’s gonna be mulling this over for a bit.” Dr. Roman explained. “You two should take five. I’m not detecting anything around you right now, so you should be OK.” he added.

“That’s a good idea.” Mash commented, before placing a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “Come on, Senpai. Take a weight off, as they say.” she added gently.

“It’s take a _load_ off, Mash.” Dr. Roman remarked. Izuku looked over at Mash after she suggested this, and the warm smile on her face made it hard for him to argue. So the two of them took a seat on an undamaged part of a bench, and it was only after sitting that Izuku realized how _sore_ he was. His legs ached terribly, whether from walking such long distances, or from suddenly having to run to avoid getting into further battles. How long had they even been on the move, anyway? He hadn’t thought to ask Dr. Roman, but maybe there was some sort of time displacement given what they were doing?

His thought process was interrupted by a sudden growl, which he swiftly discovered was from his own stomach, much to his embarrassment. “Oh geez...” he muttered, his face heating up. He hadn’t even noticed _that_ either. Mash let out a slight giggle, before reaching into her shield and producing a small wrapped bar.

“Here, Senpai. It isn’t much, but it should keep you going.” she commented. Izuku took the bar with a grateful nod, soon discovering it was a rather typical energy bar. He unwrapped it and took a hearty bite, taking off half of it in one go. It was a bit too chewy and sticky for his liking, but it wasn’t like he had room to complain. Fou dropped down from his head again and landed on his shoulder, leaning over to sniff at the half-eaten bar, but Mash quickly reached over and scooped him up. “No, Fou, that’s for Senpai. I’ll get yours in a minute, OK?” she gently chided. The creature gave a protesting “Fou!” in reply, but she was soon making good on her promise, digging into the compartment on her shield again.

Izuku finished chewing as this exchange took place, swallowing before starting to voice his thoughts. “I wonder why I’m so hungry all of a sudden? Is it a result of me using my Magecraft? If Dr. Roman is right and it affects my body, does that mean it affects my metabolism too? Did I use up too much energy when I was healing myself earlier? Or when I helped out in the last fight? Does this mean I’m going to have to change my diet? Mom said that I was eating too little but if this is-”

“Senpai?” Mash asked, stirring Izuku out of his thoughts. He looked to her for a second, then seemed to realize what he was doing, getting embarrassed all over again.

“S-Sorry! I just...think out loud sometimes.” he admitted. More like a lot, but he kept that remark to himself. He quickly finished off the energy bar, not exactly satiated but he wasn’t going to ask for more. After a second, he blinked in realization, then looked back to Mash. “Aren’t you eating anything, Mash?” he asked.

“Oh, no, I’m OK Senpai.” she answered, quick to reassure him. “I think I have the opposite situation that you do. As long as I have some magical energy, I can keep going.”

Izuku nodded slowly at this bit of information, but it didn’t really do anything to put him at ease. His mind went back to that conversation he overheard between her and the Director. He was apparently supplying her with magical energy, not that he could tell. He was left dwelling on all of the questions he was asking himself, and the troubled look on his face reflected that.

“Mash...?” he hesitantly asked. When she looked up at him from feeding Fou a small can of something, he continued in the same tone. “How am I doing so far? As your...Master, I mean?” The word still sounded strange to him in this context.

Mash looked surprised for a moment, before offering a wider smile to put him at ease. “Senpai, you really don’t need to worry. You’ve done an excellent job in my view. Your quick and unorthodox thinking has made a world of difference.” she answered. She then looked slightly excited as she continued. “I never would’ve thought to actually _throw_ my shield until you suggested it!” Clearly she was still proud of how that whole escapade had turned out.

Izuku gave a slightly sheepish chuckle at that. “Well, it just seemed like the best solution to the problem we had, you know?” he responded. “But the Director is right, you shouldn’t really make a habit of it.” he added quickly, realizing her argument had merit. “If you threw it at the wrong time, you’d be completely defenceless.”

Mash blinked and re-adopted the surprised look she had moments ago, then nodded slowly in understanding. “Yes, you’re right Master.” she admitted, before humming in contemplation. “So when _would_ be a good time to throw it?” she asked.

Now it was Izuku’s turn to think this over. After folding his arms and humming in thought for a moment, he then suggested: “Maybe as a last resort? Like, when you know it’s going to land and be the final blow?” His eyes then lit up and he looked to Mash with an excited expression. “Oh! That could be your finishing move!”

“My...finishing move?” she responded with a curious tone. “You mean, like a Noble Phantasm? Do you think mine is related to throwing my shield?”

“Maybe?” he answered. He then turned away again and placed a hand on his chin, a thought occurring to him. “I can’t think of many famous figures who threw their shield, though. But if all mythology actually happened, what else that we considered fiction actually happened? Are _all_ heroes real, even modern-day ones? Maybe the superhero stories we know today are just embellished versions of existing stories. So then that could mean that someone like Captain America was real! But why would he only give Mash her shield and armour instead of appearing himself? Plus the shield looks nothing like his, but that could just be something the adaptations changed. Even so, if anyone would do that-”

“Senpai, you’re doing it again.” Mash remarked. Izuku again jolted out of this mental state, his face flushing again in turn. “Also, who’s ‘Captain America’?” she asked.

“Well-” he started to explain, but Dr. Roman suddenly cut him off.

“Sorry to interrupt, but you’ve got enemies incoming!” he called out. All three of them were on their feet after this, rushing to group together for protection, Fou returning to Izuku’s shoulders so Mash was free to fight. “I detect five of them making their way to you!” the doctor clarified.

Sure enough, a few seconds after this, they would see a few skeletons creeping towards them through the open doorway. Wasting little time, Mash let out a shout and charged forward to meet them.

The first one was already lifting its sword to swing at her, but it never came down, as she swung her shield to clash the edge against its jaw. This caused the skeleton’s head to spin around on the spine, though it soon came to a stop. This ended up creating the morbidly amusing image of the skeleton’s head facing the opposite direction that it should. Not that Mash thought to appreciate the humour, as she swung her shield again to catch the skeleton in its ribs, sending it flying to the side, crashing right into a second skeleton and leaving them both a pile of bones.

The third approached quickly, forcing Mash to raise her shield as the spear head thrust forward, scraping against the rim of the shield and narrowly missing her head. A few strands of her hair came loose in the clash, however. The spear withdrew only to thrust forward again, this time scratching a lower rim of her shield. She quickly pushed it aside before it could touch her, however, as the tip had come dangerously close to nicking her leg. With the spear shoved aside, there was a slight delay as the skeleton pulled it back for another thrust. This allowed Mash to heft her shield up and bring the edge down, trapping the spear and breaking the tip off once it crashed to the ground. The skeleton lifted up the broken staff, and robotically moved to thrust again, but only hit the center of the shield again. Mash pushed it back, then spun around and swung a leg out, her foot clashing against the skeleton’s chest. The blow sent it flying backwards, crashing against the wall beside the doorway, the bones crumpling to the floor.

Izuku was about to call out to her to congratulate her, but something wasn’t right. He ran over the events that he just saw in his head, and counted only three skeletons. “Doctor, didn’t you say there were five-” he started to ask, before something cut him off.

“ _Gandr!_ ”

That something being the Director’s shout, and the blast of red-and-black whizzing right by the back of his head, followed by the sound of bone splintering. He turned to see a skeleton crumpling at an open window at his side, a bow and arrow dropping from its hands afterwards.

He looked over to the Director, who huffed as she lowered her hand. “You’re quite welcome for that, Midoriya.” she remarked, looking more than a bit pleased with herself. “You see, this is what happens when you don’t pay careful attention to your surroundings at all times.” she added, unaware of the glint of silver that could be seen in a window at the back of the church. She closed her eyes as she continued, oblivious to Izuku picking up a chunk of debris at their feet. “I’m sure you were too busy enjoying the fight that Mash was involved in, but an effective Master isn’t just an audience member. They must be prepared to be on the move, and-”

The sound of bone crunching stopped her little speech, her eyes shooting wide open and turning to the source of the sound. She saw another skeleton fall to pieces in front of a back window, its heading missing, but she presumed the bone fragments collected among the pile explained that. She looked back to Izuku, who lowered his arm after having thrown something at the skeleton, his Magic Circuits fading away again. He shook his arm slightly, wincing but seeming pleased. “That was close...I guess if it’s only for a few seconds, it’s not so bad?” he questioned. He then looked up to Olga Marie with a slightly oblivious expression. “Sorry Director, what were you saying?” he asked.

She stared back at him with an incredulous expression, before looking at the destroyed skeleton, and then back to him. This shifted to a more annoyed expression, her face starting to heat up as a light growl left her mouth. “Exactly how many times are you planning on saving my life tonight, Midoriya?” she asked tersely.

Izuku backed up a bit, both hands raised, a nervous smile on his face. How exactly was he supposed to answer a question like that? “U-Um...hopefully not any more than that...?” he attempted.

This did little to help the Director’s mood.

“Director! Master!” Mash called, hurrying over to them. She looked understandably worried after having missed those last two enemies. “Are you two alright?!”

Izuku turned to her with a calming smile. “Yes, we’re fine Mash! Crisis averted!” he explained. “You did a good job! You’re getting better and better at this!” he quickly added, not wanting to miss a chance to praise her.

Mash’s anxious expression changed to one of relief and gratitude as a response to what he said. The Director put aside her annoyance with the boy and chimed in. “I will have to agree with him, you _are_ improving rapidly, Mash.” She allowed what was probably the first genuine smile she showed all night to appear on her face. It was soon replaced by a more curious expression, however. “Does this mean you’re no longer afraid to fight?”

Mash looked a bit taken aback by the question, her earlier confidence quickly disappearing. “I...I wouldn’t say that, exactly...” she admitted. “It’s more like...I’m just trying not to focus on it...?” she clarified.

Olga Marie’s smile shifted to a concerned frown, though she tried to play this off. “Well, that is a step in the right direction, at least.” she stated. She then looked around the ruined church again for a moment, before declaring: “Clearly there’s nothing here for us now. We should-”

“Get out of there!” the hologram of Dr. Roman suddenly shouted. Izuku lifted his wrist to see his panicked expression staring up at them. “Hurry, you have to get moving right away!”

“W-What’s going on, Doctor?!” he responded. If he was fretting this much, it could only mean one possibility. Something they had all been warned about and anticipating for some time now. Something the Doctor was quick to confirm.

“I’ve detected a Servant heading your way! Mash isn’t ready to take one on yet, you have to make a run for it!”

Before any of them could consider how exactly to escape, Mash turned her attention to the open doorway, as if she suddenly heard something. She then turned fully to face the doorway and rushed forward, raising her shield up as she shouted to the others. “ _Get down!_ ”

As soon as this command was given, a long black chain flew through the air, nearly as fast as a bullet. It clashed with the iron of Mash’s shield, forcing her back a step with a shout. A second chain soon followed, this one wrapping around the upper edge of the shield and pulling her forward involuntarily. Izuku saw a mass of black suddenly propel itself forward through the entrance, its shape indiscernible, before it collided with the shield and sent Mash back further with a yelp.

With the impact made, Izuku could see the shape almost standing on Mash’s shield, a foot pressing down on her, trying to push her to the ground. The figure was human, that much was clear, but they were cloaked in pure darkness, appearing as just a silhouette. They were tall - taller than all of them, but only a bit - and their hair was long and seemed to write about their head like snakes. Anything else about them was nearly impossible to discern, the dark energy shrouding any further details from sight.

Mash let out a cry and pushed back against the figure, forcing them off of her. The figure landed rather easily on the floor, and yanked back on the chain that was still wrapped around the shield, pulling Mash forward another step. She grit her teeth and held as firm as she could, but it was clearly proving to be a struggle to not be overpowered by the shadow.

“So, there are still some humans left.” a female voice remarked. The shadowy figure tugged at the chain almost teasingly, pulling Mash forward another step. “And _you_ are not supposed to be here, are you?” she asked teasingly. “Are you lost, little Servant?”

Mash let out a strained grunt as she kept pulling back against the chain, to which the shadowy Servant let out a light, surprisingly soft giggle. “Ahh, are you shy? Don’t worry, you and I can be good friends. All you have to do is hand over the humans you’re protecting. Do it willingly, and I’ll kill them quickly. They’ll barely even feel a thing.” she offered, her voice velvety yet dripping with evil intent.

“Not...going to...happen!” Mash strained to get out. She pulled back against the chain still attached to her shield, managing to get back a step. The shadowy figure made a disappointed sigh and responded in kind.

“So be it. It’s alright, we’ll still be good friends, once you’ve been beaten. But it’s going to be a _much_ more painful experience now.” she responded. Before anyone there could prepare, the figure propelled forward again, her foot clashing with Mash’s shield once more. This time, however, she treated her shield as more of a springboard, jumping off of it and throwing herself in the direction of the two non-Servants in the room.

With only seconds to react, Izuku grabbed Olga Marie’s shoulders and leapt to the side, the shadow just narrowly missing them as they fell behind a bench. The shadow landed in the aisle and looked to where they fell, but before she could make a move, Mash let out a shout and yanked back on her shield again. “Don’t you _dare!_ ” she demanded, the shadow stumbling forward after another yank, the chain still attached to Mash’s shield. Mash spun around as she approached, yanking the shadow further forward, and allowing her to swing the edge of the shield to collide with the back of their head. The sound of the shield reverberating echoed through the church, even after the shadow let out a pained yell. Mash wasted no time, swinging the shield in the other direction, this time clashing the edge against the shadow’s jaw. Another yelp from the shadow, and Mash spun around in the opposite direction, swinging a leg out to kick the Servant back. However, this time she was prepared, catching Mash’s foot with one hand. She let out another light giggle, before raising her other hand up. The other end of the chain had a long spike attached to it, which she swiftly drove down, piercing right into Mash’s ankle, prompting a scream of agony from her.

Izuku was already on his feet at this, but the Director grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him back down. “ _Don’t!_ ” she commanded. “Remember what I told you?! Do not engage!”

“I can’t just-” he started to protest, but Olga Marie hurriedly cut him off.

“If she’s having trouble with her, then the Servant will destroy you in less than a second!” she hissed. “If we draw attention to ourselves then we’re done for!”

The shadow Servant with drew the spike from Mash’s ankle as this argument was had, leaving the Demi-Servant to drop to one knee. The shadow raised the spike again and swung down, but Mash quickly raised the shield again, causing the spike to scrape loudly against the iron beneath it. Mash suddenly swung the shield upwards, the long edge catching the shadow in its stomach, knocking the wind out of her briefly. Forcing herself up to her feet, Mash then swung the top edge down, clashing against the shadow’s forehead, another reverberation echoing around them. Throwing caution to the wind, she then launched herself forward, putting her entire weight into her charge, crashing her shield fully against the shadow and throwing them both to the floor.

Mash left her pinned down for a moment, then carefully pushed herself back up. As soon as she moved her shield, however, the shadow struck. Her long legs thrust upwards, wrapping around Mash’s neck and squeezing tightly, cutting off the shout she was about to make. The shadow then placed her hands on the floor to prop herself, before flipping backwards, letting Mash go and sending her flying across the room. Her body clashed against the altar, and with a shout she tumbled behind it.

Izuku watched this transpire while practically shaking with anxiety. He knew in his head that the Director was right, this Servant was leagues above the minor skeletons they had clashed with up until now. If he tried to intervene right now, he’d surely end up dead before he even got close enough. In his heart, however, all he could feel was the pressing urge to help her before his first friend in years ended up _dead_.

Olga Marie could see the conflict on his face and hurriedly spoke up. “If you want to help that badly, use a Command Seal already!”

He whipped his head to her with a shocked expression. “You want me to _what?!_ ”

“Oh for-if you command her to do something she’s already trying to do, you’re not forcing her into anything!” she responded, quickly figuring out why he’d be so against the idea. “All you’re doing is giving her a magic boost!”

Izuku looked down at the markings on his hand, then up at Olga Marie, his hesitation still apparent on his face. “Even if I did do that, what do I even say?!” he asked in a panic.

Before the Director could answer, they heard Mash let out another cry of pain and looked up. She had risen to her feet in the interim, but could see the shadow now behind her, and Mash holding her shoulder, blood dripping from a fresh wound.

Izuku blinked. Suddenly, the shadow was in front of her again. She let out another shout, as a splash of blood flew from her waist. When had the shadow hit her? The shadow pulled the two halves of the chain in front of her. The shield flew from Mash’s grasp and clattered to the floor, while the chain wrapped around her waist, trapping her arms to her sides. The shadow turned to face her, and with another light giggle, yanked the chain forward, forcing Mash closer to her.

The Director watched this with bated breath, before her eyes widened in realization. “Wait, your Mystic Code!” she said, turning to Izuku again. “It has a spell in it that’ll temporarily boost Mash’s strength!”

That sounded like a much better alternative than making a vague command with a spell, so Izuku looked to her and responded nervously. “OK, what do I do?!”

“Activate your Magic Circuits again.” she ordered. Simple enough, Izuku did so. He quickly felt his skin starting to burn, and thankfully Olga Marie wasted no time in continuing. “Focus your attention fully on Mash, hold out your hand, and call out ‘Momentary Reinforcement’!”

Izuku did just as the Director said, holding out a hand while watching Mash. She was getting pulled closer and closer, step by injured step, the shadow seemingly delighting in making her squirm. The urge to save her was not diminishing in the slightest, and so with no hesitation he called:

“Momentary Reinforcement!”

He felt what was almost a blast of wind come off of his body, as the shadow looked over at him, then back at Mash. Mash’s body glowed a faint orange, prompting the shadow to act. She leapt up into the air, somersaulting once, then dove down while swinging the heel of her foot down at Mash. Unfortunately for her, Mash suddenly let out a shout and flung her arms up, the chain expanding as it was forced off of her. She then raised her arms and crossed them, the heel clashing with them and causing her knees to shake, but she maintained her stance. For a moment she glared up at the shadow, before she uncrossed her arms, pushing the heel back. Quicker than any human could manage, however, before the shadow was flung too far back, she reached up and grabbed the leg above her with both hands, then swung backwards and slammed the shadow right into the same altar behind her, breaking the wood and throwing the Servant against the wall behind them.

With space given for just a second, Mash turned and picked up her shield, then lunged for the recovering shadow. With her shield in one hand, she thrust the shorter edge at the top forward, like she was simply punching the shadow with it. The edge smashed against the shadow’s face, a spurt of blood shooting out from what could be assumed was her nose. Mash didn’t relent, rearing back and smashing it into her face again, knocking her back another step in the process. Then she did so a third time, prompting another cry of pain from her. With the shadow dizzy for a second, Mash turned the shield so that the longer edge was at the end of her arm, then swung the flat of the edge upwards, catching the shadow in the jaw and throwing her back against the wall. Not willing to give her even a second’s rest, Mash shouted and dashed forward, shield in front of her, as she again threw her full weight behind the charge. The shield smashed against the shadow’s body with enough force to crack the wood and plaster that made up the wall, and soon smash _through_ it, with the shadow falling backwards through the hole.

Mash gave a tired exhale after this was done, breathing heavily as she turned around. She started to walk away and towards Izuku and the Director, a tired smile on her face.

“Battle complete, Mast-AAAAAAH!” she started to say, only to let out a shout of terror. The shadow had sprung back up when her back was turned, and was now hanging onto her back, arms and legs wrapped around her torso. Before she could even hope to retaliate, the Servant reared her head back and dove for her neck, fangs suddenly sinking into her flesh, prompting another, even more terrified scream.

Izuku panicked, running into the aisle and holding out his hand again. “Momentary Reinforcement!” he called, activating his Circuits. Unfortunately, this time he didn’t feel anything happen, prompting him to look at his hand in shock and confusion.

“The spells take time to recharge!” the Director called out. “Use a Command Seal, _hurry!_ ” she added, just as panicked as he was.

Before Izuku could even consider whether or not to do this, Mash charged backwards, ramming the shadow into another part of the wall behind her. To no avail, but she tried again, this time the Servant’s head smacking against the wood. This did the trick, as the shadow let go of Mash’s neck, and a third crash into the wall forced her arms and legs off of her. Still in the throes of panic, however, Mash swung an elbow back, crashing it against the Servant’s nose to stun them again. She then spun around and threw a fist into the same spot, the Servant’s shout muffled by the impact. She followed through with her shield, crashing the edge of it into the Servant’s face once again. The Servant slid down the wall, but Mash didn’t relent, smashing the shield into her face yet again. With a frightened cry, she reared back and did it once again, and then again, and then _again_ , each swing only emphasized by Mash shouting out to strengthen the blow. Once the Servant had collapsed to the floor, Mash raised her shield over her head, then swung the flat of the long edge right into the Servant’s head, hard enough that now the concrete floor around her was cracked. The shadow had long since stopped making noise after that, but she kept the shield’s edge there for a few seconds, before finally prying it off and taking a step back.

Izuku was left to stare agog after the battle was over. Far from a glorious battle between heroes, it was more like a bloody street brawl. He never expected this level of aggression from Mash, but as she turned and began walking towards him, he could understand why. He heard it in her voice, and could see it on her face. She wasn’t angry, and hadn’t shown such ferocity out of hatred. She was _scared_ , scared out of her mind, and just barely hanging onto what energy she had after having narrowly survived the encounter. So he could completely understand what had come over her.

Especially since, as he glanced past her, the shadow was getting up _again_.

It was moving more slowly than before, but the fact that it was moving at all was of course frightening. Mash must’ve noticed the look on his face, because she stopped in her tracks. She felt her strength leaving her, felt the pain shooting through multiple parts of her body, but especially her injured ankle. Still, she closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and steeled herself. As the shadow rose, she spun around and _hurled_ her shield once more. The round center flew right at the shadow, smashing into her chest and throwing her right out one of the open windowsills and into the forest around the church, the shield clattering to the floor right after.

With that done, Mash collapsed, and Izuku was at her side in a second. He turned and called to an approaching Director. “The healing spell! How do I do it?!” he asked, back to being in a panic.

“The same as before, but call out ‘First Aid’!” she answered, looking away from Mash to the open window, checking for any signs of the enemy Servant.

Izuku held his hand over Mash, his Circuits activating once more, as he quickly shouted as Olga Marie said. “First Aid!” He felt that push of wind come off of him as Mash glowed a bright green. The wounds that she had gained throughout the fight soon closed up, the Demi-Servant letting out a weary sigh as the pain faded away.

“Senpai...how did I do...?” she asked. Izuku could scarcely believe that she was asking about that _now_. He wrapped an arm around her back, starting to help her to her feet as he answered her.

“You did amazing, Mash.” He still sounded worried as he said this, the threat having not passed from his mind yet. “I don’t care what anyone says, you’re the best Servant there is.” he added. The battle had been an incredible sight, even for someone who was used to seeing heroes and villains clash every day. Most likely _because_ Mash was at such a disadvantage. Her sheer guts and determination were awe-inspiring.

She gave a small giggle, still sounding tired. “Senpai, you’re exaggerating...” she lightly admonished him for.

“Guys, I’m sorry, but you don’t have time to rest!” Dr. Roman suddenly cut in. “There are two more Servants heading to your location! You have to hurry and move or you’ll get boxed in for sure!”

Izuku couldn’t believe his ears. Mash had barely managed to fend off one of the enemy Servants, and now two more were on their way? With Mash exhausted if they didn’t hurry then they were finished for sure.

Luckily the healing spell had worked wonders, as Mash recovered enough to pull away from Izuku and run for her shield. After picking it up, she ran back, taking Izuku’s outstretched hand, and the three of them dashed for the open doorway.

Heading back out into the night, the terror of what they were up against was swiftly growing in Izuku’s mind. He had expected the enemies to at least _look_ human, but the figure they just fought was cloaked in pure darkness. Which not only made it harder to tell what they were, or how they were attacking, but made it so easy for them to blend into the darkness of the night.

Which made an increasingly-paranoid Izuku look around them as they ran down the pathway away from the church, for any slight signs of movement in the trees or bushes near them. Anything amiss could mean the difference between life and death.

They had survived one grueling battle just now. Could they survive another?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> People have been anticipating it, so here it is, the first Servant fight. I hope I did it justice.
> 
> Why doesn't Mash ever Captain America her shield? Like, seriously DW. It's right there. #LetMashThrowHerShield.


	7. Fuyuki: Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group is put up against a wall, a hero rises.

# The Shadow Grows

It was amazing what a motivator like fear could do to push someone.

The group had trekked across the length of Fuyuki over multiple hours, to the point that Izuku couldn’t really remember if a day had passed or not. Returning to where they had been would be way too much for them to do on so little rest.

Needing to run for their lives proved that little theory wrong.

Granted, they often had to stop just to catch their breaths, or change direction to avoid what was obviously a collection of more skeletons, or to hopefully throw off whatever they felt was chasing them. However, staying on the move as much as they were, while absolutely exhausting, got them across the city in record time.

The really surprising part to Izuku was how quickly Mash was recovering her energy. He assumed that after just barely winning that fight with the other Servant she’d be struggling to move properly, yet after about ten minutes she was back to her old self. It was a pretty sharp contrast to him and the Director, the latter of whom nearly twisted her ankle after they abruptly changed direction once they saw a suspicious-looking shadow looming from behind a building. Izuku offered to carry her for a bit but she made it very clear that if he even attempted to touch her in any way he’d end up skinned alive. So that bit of chivalry was off the table.

So how exactly was Mash back on her feet so quickly? It must have something to do with her being a Servant. She’s supposed to gather magical energy from him to power herself, so that would explain why she was up and about sooner than normal. If what the Director said was true, however, he shouldn’t be supplying her with very much. So did that mean she would recover even faster if he was giving her more? Would he even need to use his Mystic Code to heal her then? How could one even determine how much magical energy a Servant would need? Were there measurements for it? Actual units? More questions that he’d have to ask once all of this was over.

After such a long run, the group finally came to a stop back at the Fuyuki Bridge, stopping at the same support they had been at before. Olga Marie bent over and gasped for breath, her hands on her knees and not at all thinking about how she might be flashing anyone behind her. “OK...I think...we finally...lost them...” she said between breaths.

Izuku slumped down against the support, likewise heaving for air, a distressed Fou having returned to his hair. “Mash...could you...check around...just in case...please...?” he asked while sounding exhausted.

Mash, the only one with energy to spare, enthusiastically nodded. “OK! Just rest for now, Senpai!” she responded, before hurrying off to check out the other bridge support. After a few seconds, Olga Marie straightened up and walked over to where Izuku was resting, and soon plopped down beside him quite unceremoniously. He only had about a second to jolt and blush at how she was way too close before she pointed at his other arm.

“Bring up Romani.” she ordered. He wasted little time doing this, lifting his wrist and opening the connection again. Once the hologram of the doctor appeared, the Director tiredly spoke. “Please tell me you were watching that and have some sort of explanation of what the hell happened.”

The doctor flinched, then adopted a forced smile. “Well...the first part, yeah, but the second part...” he trailed off, much to the Director’s obvious irritation.

“Seriously, Romani?! Observing us is supposed to be your whole job right now! How can you not have anything for us to work with here?!” she shouted at him. Mash hurried over at this point, causing Izuku to raise his head. She simply shook her head to indicate they were safe for now.

“I don’t know what else to tell you!” the doctor countered. “All the readings could detect were the basic Servant information! Nothing about...whatever was going on with her! Visually all I had was everything you guys saw!”

Olga Marie let out an irritated growl, then rose to her feet again. “This doesn’t make any sense!” she exclaimed, taking a few steps away from the rest of the group. “A Holy Grail War is supposed to be a secret affair, not something that burns an entire city to the ground and kills everyone in it! It wasn’t even like the Servant _had_ to do it, she clearly wanted to!” she began ranting. “Not to mention how we couldn’t even see what she looked like!” she added after a moment.

“Maybe she was searching for a source of magical energy?” Mash offered. “There wasn’t a Master with her, so maybe she talked about the both of you for that reason?”

“If that was the case, then she wouldn’t have been able to fight as well as she did.” the Director answered. “Considering how far away we were from the city, unless she had Independent Action, she wouldn’t have even made it that far out before going back to the Throne.”

“Which is unlikely.” Dr. Roman added. “I was able to detect her class. She was the Rider, not Archer or even Assassin. While her shadowy state might be related to her Noble Phantasm somehow, it’s not very likely she would’ve had Independent Action among her skillset.”

There were a number of terms thrown around that flew over Izuku’s head, naturally, but one part of it quickly stood out to him. “Wait, sorry, hang on...” he started, getting up to his feet as he spoke. “What does killing us have to do with the Servant needing magical energy?” he asked.

“That would be how she would acquire the energy, Senpai.” Mash explained. “A Servant is able to convert a human soul that they consume into magical energy. Thus, by killing you and Director Olga Marie, that Servant would’ve lasted in this world for a bit longer.”

To say this got Izuku’s attention would be an understatement, as he stared at Mash with an utterly horrified expression after hearing this. “C-Consume the _what?!_ ” he sputtered out. “Servants can do that?!”

“ _Can_ , yes.” the Director chimed in. “They don’t often do so. Only some of them are known to do that, and even then only in emergencies. Such as losing their Master and needing to remain on this plane of existence, or if their Master is extremely inefficient at providing them with magical energy on their own.”

This did little to dissuade Izuku’s mood, as he just turned to the Director and continued to express how upset he was by this. “But that’s _awful!_ You said Servants were _Heroic_ Spirits, right?! Heroes wouldn’t do something that horrible!”

There was a pause as the other two people present stared at Izuku. Mash was more confused and a little worried, trying to figure out why this was bothering him. Aside it being awful on its own, his wording about “heroes” not doing something like that stuck out. Why did that specific part stick with him?

The Director, meanwhile, studied Izuku with a more discerning look, before turning to fully face him and asking coolly: “Midoriya, you’re clearly a student of history, right?” When Izuku nodded in affirmation, she continued. “Then tell me: How often has the term ‘hero’ changed over thousands of years of humanity’s existence?”

That did halt Izuku’s train of thought right away, forcing him to consider the question. It was true, anyone who got into this knew that ‘heroes’ were very different things eons ago. Back then, it was more about the strength of the feats they accomplished, rather than the measure of their character. While the great heroes of old did great things, they also did many things that by today’s standards would be considered deplorable. If the Throne of Heroes had figures such as these then obviously they would do things he wouldn’t agree with. “...still, to go _that_ far...?” he muttered. Even with this in mind, to kill other innocent people just to keep themselves going felt too much for him.

“You need to also consider the Grail, Midoriya.” Dr. Roman added. “All things going well, both the Master and the Servant get a wish from it. Some Heroic Spirits have a lot of baggage from when they were alive, festering for centuries or even millennia. If there was a chance for them to get something they’ve always wanted, some would do anything to achieve that goal.”

Again, Izuku had little reason to disagree. Even if the thought left him feeling sick to his stomach, he couldn’t claim to know every single Heroic Spirit in the Throne of Heroes, or what they might do when presented with the chance to have their wildest dreams realized. It certainly didn’t help him accept any of this, though. If anything, he only wondered more if he was really suited to be a part of this whole thing.

“I-I think we should also consider how exactly the Servant found us!” Mash spoke up, seeing just how much this was eating at him and wanting to get off of the subject. “As the Director said, we were far away from the rest of the city, so why would she go that far out from it? If she was hunting down any surviving humans why would she look out there?”

“Unfortunately, the answer to that one is a bit easier.” Dr. Roman answered, sounding a bit grim. “This is supposed to be the site of a Holy Grail War. The fact that Servants are still around means even with all this damage it hasn’t ended. And if the Servant could detect another Servant, naturally, she could detect a Demi-Servant.”

Now it was Mash’s turn to take the emotional blow, looking shocked after the doctor’s answer. “Then...they found us, because of me...?” she asked, dawning horror appearing on her face soon afterwards.

“W-Well, not _because_ of you!” he answered, quickly realizing his mistake. “More like...just a consequence of you being there...?” he attempted, as if that wasn’t just the same thing but worded differently.

This did have the effect of snapping Izuku out of his mental state, looking up at Mash as she got that frightened look on her face again. He could still see how terrified she was after that battle with the Servant, and to see her look like that again said to him that he badly needed to do something to fix that. “Doctor, is the Rayshift technology repaired yet?” he asked after directing his attention to the hologram.

“Erm...unfortunately, no. It’s still going to be a bit longer before we can bring you back.” he answered, much to Izuku’s disappointment. No matter, he just had to think of an alternative solution.

“Alright, we should get moving again.” he declared. He looked up at the Director, a more focused expression aimed at her. “Director, if we head back to the leyline, would it strengthen the connection to Chaldea enough to make a Rayshift possible?”

Olga Marie was certainly surprised by Izuku taking charge like this, but that surprise was quickly supplanted by her anger at the same thing. “Wait just one second, Midoriya!” she exclaimed back at him. “We’re still supposed to be trying to find the source of this Singularity!”

“I-I know that!” he protested. Without meaning to, he glanced over at Mash, before looking back at the Director and continuing. “But wouldn’t it make more sense to make a temporary retreat and regroup with a new plan, now that we know what we’re up against?”

Olga Marie wanted to chastise Izuku and call him a coward for suggesting the idea, but she knew better. In their short time together, she already knew that such a term wouldn’t fit him at all. Obviously, he was more concerned about Mash and her emotional state, even if that wasn’t the best move to help that. She couldn’t fully fault him for thinking about that, however. “Even if we _could_ Rayshift right now, we can’t just do that whenever we want to!” she answered. “Every Rayshift has to go through proper approval by the Clock Tower and the United Nations. If we just jump back and forth over and over we risk damaging our relationship with the both of them! No, for now we have to stick to the original plan, and once we find the source of this anomaly-”

Before Izuku could even begin to ponder how exactly the Untied Nations were involved with Chaldea, Dr. Roman’s voice cut in again. “Guys, get on the move! One of them caught up to you, they’re-they’re right above you! _Move!_ ”

Both Izuku and Olga Marie raised their heads just in time to see a shadowy mass diving down at them from the bridge. Mash moved faster than the both of them, shield raised up as the shape made contact, a loud ring echoing out through the area as the shadow’s full weight pressed down onto her. She held the figure up for a few seconds, before letting out a shout and hurling it away from them. The figure flipped backwards and landed on its feet, crouching to the ground a few paces away.

Izuku heard a slow, deep laugh come from him before he spoke. “Well...another one got away, I see...” the shadow said in a low, chilling voice that made Izuku’s skin crawl just hearing it. “No matter. It only means that you will die tired.” Upon closer inspection, they could see that the figure was just as much a silhouette as the Rider was, yet the shape seemed thinner than an ordinary person, as though he were just skin and bones. Stranger was how his right hand ended in a stump, different to the left. Not that any of them had the time to ponder what that meant.

“It’s the Assassin Servant!” Dr. Roman shouted from the communicator. “If you try running now he’ll just catch you! You have to fend him off!”

“Easier said than done, Romani!” Olga Marie yelled back, before grabbing the back of Izuku’s collar and running back, before he could even consider protesting about staying out of the fight. Mash wasted no time raising her shield, and was swiftly shown to have made the right decision.

A light whistling rang through the air as a trio of knives flew through it, aimed right at Mash. They clashed with the iron of the shield, sending more ringing echoes through the area. Mash lowered her shield afterwards, only to be greeted with a troubling sight; the shadow was _gone_. She looked around the area in front of her, eyes wide in panic, wondering how she could’ve lost sight of it-

Only to then feel a piercing sensation go right into her shoulder, prompting a loud scream to come from her. Instinctively, she spun around, swinging her shield behind her, only to hit nothing but air. She stared in confused panic, trying her best not to look at Izuku’s frantic face peeking from behind the opposing pillar, wondering how that could’ve just happened. She still felt the pain in her shoulder, turning her head as best as she could to see what was wrong. Indeed, a knife was still embedded in her shoulder. Before she could even try to pull it out, she felt something heavy strike her back, prompting another cry from her as she flew across the small patch of land under the bridge, falling just in front of the two mages nearby. She lifted her head and looked back, only to see the shadow standing behind her, chuckling at her. Teasingly, he lifted his proper hand and motioned for her to get up.

She felt her whole body shiver in response. This shadow was playing with her, just like the last one was, knowing they could kill her at any moment but wanting to draw this out. Like a cat toying with a mouse, she was utterly powerless against him, and the thought terrified her.

Even so, she couldn’t let that fear rule her, not for even a second.

The Director was in danger. They didn’t always get along, and she knew that Olga Marie had to bear the weight of what her father had done, but she didn’t want her to die. For the sake of Chaldea, and for the chance of being friends with her in the future, she wouldn’t let her die.

Her Senpai was in danger. They had only known each other for a short time, and he had been so kind, so supportive, so willing to believe in her. She didn’t want him to die either. He was going to be a great Master, a great mage, and whatever else he wanted to be. She wouldn’t let him die.

She was a Servant now, and while she didn’t know who had helped her, or what the shield she held truly was, she knew what it _meant_. She was going to protect the handful of people that were precious to her, no matter what it took!

She pushed herself to her feet, while reaching back and grasping the knife in her shoulder. She grit her teeth and pulled, yanking it out as a splash of blood flew out from her fresh wound. She ignored the pain going through her arm, throwing the knife to the ground. With a shout, she lifted her shield and charged at the enemy.

Izuku watched as Mash met the enemy again, only to be thwarted by the shadow once more. He tried to keep up with what was happening, but it was almost impossible to do so. Mash wound swing her shield, the shadow would disappear from sight, only to end up behind her a second later, slashing at her exposed back. Another stream of blood flew out as she cried out in pain, but she immediately turned and swung again, only for the shadow to again vanish. He tried to spy where exactly the shadow was coming from, but every time he so much as blinked, it would already have appeared and attacked again. He saw the shadow hit her from behind again, then it was throwing more knives, then it was behind-no, wait, it faked her out-now it was right in front of her! He started to call out, but the shadow had disappeared again just as Mash made another futile swing. More knives arced through the air to draw Mash’s attention, and while she easily deflected them, it left her open for another dive and swipe to her back.

Was this how Servants really fought? Was it even possible for a human to keep up with them? He had seen Heroes and Villains who could move fast before, but trying to watch a fight like that and trying to _help_ in a fight like that were two very different things.

Mash dropped to one knee, still clinging to her shield, now bearing multiple cuts and stab wounds all over her body. The shadow clung to the underside of the bridge above her, his deep laugh echoing around them. “How sad.” he taunted. “Is this the best you can do, little girl?” Before Mash could answer, the shadow dove down again, only stopped by her hurriedly lifting her shield. The figure landed on it again, letting out another laugh at what he saw as a futile effort. The shadow jumped off of the shield, only to dive back down with a thunderous slam, the impact shaking the earth beneath Mash. She held as firm as she could, but when the shadow dove at her again, the blow elicited another cry from her, a sign that she could only hold out for so long.

Anxiety overtaking him, Izuku knew that he had to do something fast, but what? Healing her would get her back at full strength, but it would only be prolonging what was to come. Boosting her strength might provide an advantage, but if she couldn’t even catch the Assassin, what good would that do? What else was there?

“Director!” he whispered, not taking his eyes off of the battle as he spoke. “Does my Mystic Code have anything else?!”

“Just one other spell!” she answered, peeking out from behind him, just as uneasy about this as him as Mash kept getting pushed further into the ground. “Emergency Evasion! It’ll let her dodge one attack, but only one!”

Izuku quickly formulated a last-ditch plan. It was risky, it was probably going to fail, but if there was even a slim hope it could pull Mash out of danger, he’d chance it. He watched as the shadow pressed down onto her shield, knowing he’d have to wait for just the right moment. The shadow leapt up again, and he quickly moved out of cover, holding his hand out as his Magic Circuits activated.

“Emergency Evasion!”

Mash heard the call and lowered her shield just a bit, as all of a sudden, everything seemed to be moving in slow-motion. She saw the shadow falling towards her again, less like a flying dart as it was before, and more like the gentle fall of a snowflake. Without thinking further, she rose to her feet and stepped back, the shadow falling down right in front of her. As soon as he made contact with the earth, the effect came to an end. The shadow made a startled sound and looked up, but Mash was already swinging her shield in an upward arc. The edge caught the shadow’s chin with a heavy clang and sent him flying back up, right until he smashed into the bridge above them, another loud, dull clang echoing through the area as he left a large dent in the structure. The shadow fell back to the earth, landing unceremoniously on his back, momentarily stunned.

“Mash, he’s going to keep attacking your blind spot!” Izuku shouted, certain that they only had a short time before the shadow recovered and moved again. Luckily, it was pretty clear by now what the Assassin’s strategy was. “Keep your shield behind you!”

“Behind...me...?” Mash asked, mostly because of how much the battle had left her dazed and drained, making it harder for her to focus. There was no time to further contemplate this, however, as the shadow again vanished from sight. With no alternative, Mash raised her shield and swung it behind her back, just in the nick of time. She heard the ringing sound of something hitting it, looking back over her shoulder to see the shadow having landed there. He disappeared again before she could do anything, but it was enough to prove that her Master was right about this plan. She heard the whistling of knives flying through the air again, turning and swinging her shield back out, the blades bouncing off of the iron center. She then returned her shield to her back, another louder echoing of mass hitting it ringing out. This time, Mash spun around, her shield slipping away from the shadow’s grasp, as she jumped and swung a leg out, her foot crashing against the side of the shadow’s head. He let out a pained shout and flew through the air, landing in the water under the bridge with a heavy splash.

Izuku started to run out to Mash, but she quickly rose her hand to stop him. “Don’t!” she called. “He isn’t beaten yet!” Whether it was some unknown ability that she as a Servant had, or simple guesswork, she would soon be proven right. The shadow rose from the shallow water, only to leap into the air again. She raised the shield again as a trio of knives hit the iron, scattering to the ground beneath her. She instinctively spun her shield to her back, feeling the weight crash against it as the shadow dove down onto her again. The exact second contact was made, Mash threw herself backwards, sending them both crashing against the concrete wall beneath the bridge. Quick as she could, she then spun around, drawing her shield again and swinging its long edge across the Assassin’s face, producing a dull thud upon contact. She spun the shield and moved to drive it into the shadow, but she was just a hair too slow, and the shadow vanished again.

She moved away from the wall and looked around the area, waiting to see where the shadow would strike next. She heard the whistling of knives through the air again, raising her shield in time to block another volley. She placed her shield over her back, only to hear the knives fly through the air again, deflecting off of her back again. She looked over her shoulder, over to where Izuku and Olga Marie were still waiting. If not in front, and not from behind, then where?

A second later, she realized her error and rose her shield over her head. Just in time, as the shadow dropped down onto her, his long stump of an arm crashing against the center of the iron. Not wanting to give him even a second to escape, she lowered her weight, then swung her leg out in front of her, sweeping the Assassin off of his feet. Before he could hit the ground, she swung the long edge of her shield up again, catching it against his chest and knocking him away from her. Before he even hit the ground, she let out a cry and charged forward.

“Wait, Mash, don’t go after him!” Izuku called out, but it was too late. Mash was getting desperate. Now that she had even a slight edge over such a terrifying opponent, she couldn’t let it slide. She had to beat him as soon as possible before the tide of the battle turned again. As the body fell, she spun the shield on one arm and prepared to drive it into his chest again, only for the shadow to vanish again, her shield smacking the dirt.

“I think that’s enough playtime now.” that chilling voice said from behind her. She whipped around and readied her shield, but over the side of it she could something happening to the shadow. What sounded like a gale force wind suddenly erupted from the shadow, as its shape seemed to dissolve and turn into just an incomprehensible mass of pure _black_. The mass then lunged at Mash, and even though it hit the shield, the sheer force of the blow pushed her all the way out from under the bridge, her feet scraping along the ground the whole way. It took all of her strength just to keep from falling back, a strained shout leaving her mouth as she was dragged along. The mass then suddenly vanished from Mash’s sight, her body swinging forward reflexively after the weight was gone. Before she even had the chance to think, she felt the weight crash right into her back, prompting another pained cry as she was flung forward. Before she completed the fall, the weight then smacked into her wounded shoulder, knocking her in that direction, before another blow came to the opposite side. Each passing second, the mass hit her in another spot, knocking her around without even letting her touch the ground, the only saving grace being that they were blunt blows and not adding to the number of cuts already on her body.

Izuku and Olga Marie ran out from their hiding place, the former trying desperately to think of a way to get Mash out of the predicament she was in. He’d already used the Emergency Evasion spell and he didn’t know how long he’d have before he had another shot. He could strengthen her like before but would that give her the chance to get away? The thought of a Command Spell entered his head again, and as much as the thought disgusted him, at this juncture there may not be another option. What would he even “command” her to do, though?

As he fretted over what to do, Olga Marie stooped down and picked up a piece of debris, then pulled out a small knife from inside of her sleeve. “I didn’t want to have to resort to this...but we might not have a choice.” she uttered as she started scratching something into the rock she was holding. “This will only give us a short-” she started to explain as she looked up at Izuku. She caught herself suddenly, then with wide eyes reached up and yanked Izuku down by the collar. “Midoriya, _DOWN!_ ”

Izuku had no choice but to obey as he was pulled to the ground, just as something swung right past where his head had been seconds prior, a frightened Fou yelping in turn as it narrowly missed him as well. A loud echoing clang could be heard as something hit the support of the bridge a second later, the two looking up to see the culprit.

Much to their dismay, another shadow stood before them. Though his form was as indiscernible as the other, what was clear was that it was a fair bit stockier than the Assassin. Izuku could also see what appeared to be a series of spikes spreading out from its back, although what those actually _were_ was impossible to tell. The figure moved his arm back, pulling a long polearm off of the bridge support, Izuku seeing for a moment the curved blade at the end of it.

They’d both hear the sound of something hitting the ground, turning to see Mash having finally been dropped by the Assassin. Before the other shadow could make a move, they both rushed over to her, kneeling beside her as she struggled to get back to her feet.

“Lancer.” the Assassin uttered, reappearing beside the other shadow, back to his original shape. “You are late again.”

The other shadow let out a low laugh of his own, before answering in kind. “I cannot profess to be as agile as you, Assassin.” Izuku whipped his head up and noticed that the other voice was nearly _identical_ to the Assassin. Whatever that could mean was, again, something he’d have to try and figure out later. He and the Director helped Mash to her feet, who immediately stepped in front of them and readied her shield again.

“No matter.” the Assassin drawled, as the both of them began to approach the trio before them. “It is time to cease this futile struggle. Let us bring this Grail War to a close.”

The Lancer laughed again, drawing it out as he readied his naginata, already aiming it at the group as they moved closer.

Izuku grimaced at this prospect. Mash was already losing badly against just the one Servant, now they had to contend with both of the ones Dr. Roman warned them about. There was no way they could hope to beat them at this stage, they _had_ to make a retreat. Fortunately for him, Olga Marie was on the same page.

“Alright, be ready to run.” she said, holding the rock she was carving into in her hand. “Once I throw this, there will be a bright flash of light. We grab hands, we start moving, we had back to the leyline. We’ll follow Midoriya’s idea and try to force a Rayshift back. I don’t like it, but it’s better than dying here!” she explained. She reared her arm back, prepared to throw...

Only for the sound of a chain rattling to get their attention, just as one swung out and wrapped around Olga Marie’s exposed wrist.

“Not the one I was hoping to catch...” a hauntingly familiar voice remarked. All three turned their heads to find, to their horror, the Servant Mash fought at the church, holding the other end of the chain that was now attached to the Director’s wrist. “But I suppose I can make do.” she added. She then slightly tugged her arm back, the Director being yanked forward, falling to the ground with a frightened cry.

Izuku moved right away, practically leaping in front of her and grabbing the chain before it could budge another inch. This earned a light laugh from the woman. “Oh? Did you want to go first, boy?” she asked, her voice a mixture of amusement and contempt. “Not many in your time are so eager to die. Do you envision yourself as a hero?” she wondered. The question made Izuku bristle, but he held his tongue, his thoughts only on saving the Director’s life.

“Rider, you’re alive?” the approaching Lancer asked curiously. “We had thought you had somehow met your end at these children’s hands.”

“The girl with the shield took me by surprise, but she made a crucial error.” she responded. “ _Always_ check for a body.” she finished, her voice still teasingly malicious.

She then gave her chain a firm tug, intending to pull Izuku to his hands and knees as well. Seeing his defiant face shift to a frightened one would be a wonderful experience, before she froze that look on his face forever.

She was surprised, then, to find that the boy didn’t budge at all.

Indeed, Izuku’s grip on the chain remained tight, and the shadow would see the lights of Magic Circuits arcing over what parts of his skin were exposed. Somehow, that alone was enough to keep her chain from moving.

“Wha-” she started to ask, before Izuku shouted and yanked the chain his way. She was too taken by surprise to think, and found herself off of her feet, landing on all fours a second later. As soon as the chain went slack, Izuku dropped down and unwrapped the part of it still wrapped around the Director’s wrist, helping her to her feet soon after.

“Director, are you alright?!” he asked worriedly, his Magic Circuits shutting off. He felt the stinging sensation under his skin as the heat left his body, but he paid it no mind.

Olga Marie, for her part, just stared at Izuku with wide eyes. For those few seconds after the chain snatched her wrist, she was certain that she was dead. Before she even had time to dwell on it, there he was again, standing in front of her to try and protect her. She didn’t even have the time or the strength to tell him that he was being a fool, that he was doing exactly what she said not to do and facing off with a Servant. Then he actually pulled the Servant to the ground and saved her life _again_.

Did he actually overpower a _Servant?_ Was this Magic Crest that some unknown force just threw at him making him that powerful? No, it had to be a mistake, the Servant must’ve just been caught off-guard. Of course he was far more concerned with _her_ than the ridiculous feat he just pulled off, because he was stupid like that. Not that she could find the means to answer him either way.

Mash, for her part, had been frozen by the decision to either try to save the Director or keep her guard up so the other two Servants didn’t attack them. When Izuku moved instead her heart nearly stopped, yet somehow he was able to rescue the Director. Of course he could do that, he was her amazing Senpai! If only she hadn’t locked up and forced him to put himself in harm’s way.

The chain rattled along the ground as the Rider rose to her feet, pulling the weapon to her grasp again. “That was quite the embarrassing display, Rider.” Lancer commented, drawing Mash’s attention as she held up her shield again.

“Shut up.” Rider snarled back. Izuku handed Fou off to the Director, then immediately stood in front of her, his arms raised in front of him in a rather sad attempt at a defensive stance. “I was hoping to get my revenge on that shield Servant, but you’re beginning to irritate me, boy.” she warned, twirling one of the spikes at the end of the chain idly. “If you’re that eager to die, I’ll be happy to grant your wish.”

“Such is the fate of fools and heroes.” the Assassin added. Mash could see him holding a fresh dagger in his one hand, while the Lancer still had his naginata aimed at them. “Do not think you can run this time. Your end has come.”

Indeed, it was clear to the Director that they had no chance of escape, and none of them had a prayer against three Servants at once. It was over. Her life was over. Everything she had worked for was now up in smoke. Their mission hadn’t been complete, and they were going to die. Of course, why wouldn’t they? None of them should have even survived that explosion, so why did she think they could make it through a Singularity, handicapped as they were? It was hopeless from the start.

“I won’t let you!” Mash suddenly shouted, breaking through Olga Marie’s thought process. The Shielder kept her weapon in front of her, trying to protect as much of the other two as she could. “I’m going to protect them! No matter what you try to do to me, I won’t let them die!”

Olga Marie was not at all surprised to hear Mash say that, but she knew it was pointless. Mash could barely fight the Assassin and failed to defeat Rider. She couldn’t handle three Servants by herself.

What did surprise her was when she looked over at Izuku. His Magic Circuits were lit up again, as he stared down Rider. He was actually going to try and fight a Servant!

Worse, he was _smiling_.

Truthfully, Izuku was terrified. After everything that had happened today, he thought he wasn’t able to feel surprised or afraid anymore. While it would be nice to say that he was more afraid for Mash and Olga Marie, he was scared for himself too. He had narrowly avoided death earlier, and despite how defeated he had felt then, he saw this as a second chance and he didn’t want to lose it. If there was even a slight chance he could survive this and get back home, he was going to take it. Now, however, it became clear that even that would be taken away from him.

He wasn’t going to survive. His mom and dad would never know what happened to him. Kacc-Katsuki would probably think he actually took his advice. The world would forget him.

Then Mash went and said that, and it was like a bucket of cold water had been poured over him, snapping him out of it. What was he thinking? He couldn’t just roll over and give up now! He knew even without looking at her the truth, because he saw her in the church. Mash was just as scared as he was, but she was stepping up and preparing to fight anyway. _God_ , she was incredible. If he had the chance to become even a tenth of a hero that she was proving to be, he would’ve been very fortunate indeed.

Right, that’s what he wanted to be, right? A hero?

“Pretty words, girl.” Rider answered. “What of you, boy?” she asked him, sounding lightly amused again. “Is that smile on your face a sign that you’ve gone mad?”

Realistically, there was no way they could live through this.

Still, he could pretend that he could live his dream, at least for a little longer.

“You kind of have to be a little mad to be a hero.” he responded. He didn’t know where that even came from, but as far as last words went, he could’ve done worse.

What he didn’t expect was a reply to that.

“Took the words right out of my mouth, kid!”

A second later, a flash went off right in front of Rider. She let out a scream as flames suddenly engulfed her entire form, the shadow backing away a few paces out of instinct. Before she could even think of a counterattack, something shot out from the ground beneath her, sharpened to a fine point that swiftly pierced straight through her throat and out the back of her neck. Izuku’s eyes were wide with shock, especially when he realized that the sharp implement looked to be made of _wood_. Rider was left to stand there, frozen in shock, before her arms slumped to her sides. Izuku watched as her body dissolved into shadowy particles, the flames disappearing with her.

The surprise of the attack left everyone briefly stunned, but the other shadow Servants were the first to react. With a dual shout, they started to charge for the trio, but a shape suddenly leapt down from atop the bridge, landing in front of them and Mash in turn. “Whoa whoa whoa, fellas! Can’t have you ganging up on the little lady like that!” a male voice called to the shadows, while reaching up and pulling back his hood.

Izuku first saw from where he stood the length of slicked-back blue hair atop the man’s head, tied back in a low ponytail. He saw the sky blue robe that draped over his upper half, while the lower half was a mixture of the same colour along with white. He aimed a wooden staff at the two other Servants as he backed up, before turning to face Izuku, aiming his red eyes at him. A slight toothy grin appeared on his face. “Yo, bean sprout! You’re the Master, right?” he asked.

Izuku jolted at the question, still taking in everything that had happened up to this point. “Y-Yes?” he answered hesitantly.

“’Y-Yes’? Sheesh, what happened to the fire you were showing a second ago, kid?” the mysterious man retorted, looking disappointed for a split second.

“Caster!” the Lancer suddenly called out, or at least Izuku thought it was him. He still couldn’t make sense of how he and Assassin sounded _exactly the same_. “You’re siding with the humans?!”

“Yep!” Caster called back, not even slightly fazed by the danger they were in. At least, not at first, as he faced Izuku again and stepped closer, holding out a hand. “Sorry, we don’t really have time for pleasantries right now!”

Without thinking, Izuku held out his own hand to shake. Caster firmly clasped his, and a second later, Izuku felt a strange jolt of energy go through him. For a moment he wondered if this strange man had that old joy-buzzer thing on his hand, but when he withdrew it he didn’t see anything. “There! The contract’s only gonna last until this is over, but I’m in your care now, Master!”

“W- _What?!_ ” came the response from both him and Olga Marie, but again there was no time to take this in. Having to come to terms with contracting with two Servants at the same time would have to wait until if and when they survived this.

“Look alive, girlie!” Caster called out as he stepped up beside Mash, wooden staff at the ready. “You said you weren’t gonna let them die, right? Well now’s the time to prove it!”

“R-Right!” Mash answered, just as thrown by all of this as everyone else. Still, she looked back at Izuku and called to him. “Master! Your orders, please!”

With that request made, Izuku’s mind already began assessing the situation. It was now two against two, meaning there was a real chance this could work, but he had to be smart about it. Mash was still hurt from fighting Assassin, but she knew how he operated now. He was dangerously fast and precise but they had a strategy, and as long as they stuck to it she could get the edge. The Lancer, however, was still largely a mystery. Aside the weapon he wielded he had no idea what he was capable of. He looked sturdier than the Assassin, but how long would that hold out? On the other hand, he knew little about their new Caster as well, but what little he did notice could possibly still work.

He held out his hand to Mash as his Magic Circuits lit up. “First Aid!” he cried, and he felt the rush of energy come off of him as she faintly glowed green. Her cuts soon closed up, but he noticed that she acquired a number of bruises from the earlier assault, and those only faded a bit. A limit to his healing abilities, unfortunately. He’d have to do it again later. “Mash, remember our plan! Focus on Assassin and once there’s an opening, take it! Caster, try to trap Lancer with your magic and then blast him with everything you’ve got!” he rattled off. He was making an educated guess with what Caster could do but if he could manipulate plants as well as fire, then surely he could figure the rest out.

In response, Caster let out a surprised laugh. “Contracted for ten seconds and you’re already reading my mind! I like you already, Master!” he answered. He then did just as Izuku asked, swinging his staff out, the curved tip glowing as a symbol Izuku didn’t recognize appeared in front of it. Soon after, long tree roots emerged from the ground, wrapping around the Lancer’s legs and holding him in place. The Lancer let out a surprised shout, right before he was giving a fresh blast of fire right to his face.

Meanwhile, Assassin was already rushing right at a charging Mash, starting to transform into that mass of black again. “Prolong this as much as you like, it will end the same way.” he warned, before the transformation was complete and he flew right at her. The mass hit the top of the shield and glanced off, but vanished before she could do anything. A fresher Mash was able to hold her ground and avoid getting blasted away by the attack, but she knew she had to act fast. She spun around behind her as the mass reappeared there, smacking against the shield again, before vanishing once more. Trying to predict where he’d appear next, she swung her shield out to her right, but unfortunately the mass came in from her left and landed another hard blow, knocking her aside. She managed to land on her feet this time, but it was only going to be a matter of time before he came in for another hit.

“Mash, lay low and hold your shield up!” Izuku shouted. That should protect her enough to buy them a bit more time. Once he saw her do just that, he redirected his attention to Caster and Lancer, and wasn’t too pleased with what he was seeing. Not only had Lancer broken out of the roots binding him to the ground, he only seemed slightly fazed by the blasts of fire Caster was shooting from his staff. He watched as the Lancer let out a grunt and swung his naginata down, Caster’s staff blocking the blow but causing his knees to buckle from the force.

“Come on, you big bald bastard!” Caster shouted at him. “You think you can just take my spot and then get all corrupted like this?!” Izuku obviously had no clue what he was going on about, but it was clear he was at a severe disadvantage like this.

“Caster, keep your distance! If you let him get in too close then he’ll just overwhelm you!” he called out.

“Easier said than-” Caster started to retort, but was cut off when Lancer swung a fist right into his gut, forcing the wind out of him and knocking him back a few meters. He gave a short cough, trying to catch his breath again, only to see the Lancer starting to approach again. “Right, OK, got it!” he coughed out, then raised his staff again. More roots started to grow from the ground, thorns poking out from the bark that encased them, grazing the Lancer’s legs as he moved forward.

“If you think delaying me will make any difference-” he started to say, only for Caster’s staff to glow again. The roots then went ablaze, the flames already burning the Lancer’s legs, as smoke swiftly rose to block his sight and make it harder to breathe. At least, in theory, as he was still stomping closer to Caster after a moment’s pause. “All you are doing is making me-” he started again, only to feel something pierce into his chest, stopping his momentum once again. He looked down to see a long wooden spike sticking out of it, his eyes following it until he saw Caster peeking through the smoke, the end of his staff having extended into a long point.

“Quit talking so much and _fight_ , prick!” Caster taunted. He’d soon come to regret that, as Lancer reached behind his back to grab one of the ‘spikes’ sticking out of it, only to hurl it like a lance, appropriately enough. Caster deftly sidestepped the throw, but it got the point across, as he withdrew his own weapon and started circling around, as Lancer broke through the smoke to further pursue.

What little Izuku could observe from that exchange told him that Lancer was incredibly durable - something that was easy enough to guess - and that he didn’t just have the one polearm at his disposal. Meaning that Caster could only keep his distance for so long before Lancer would neutralize that advantage he had.

Izuku was also starting to have trouble dividing his attention between two separate fights, as he focused on Mash again to find her still pinned down by the Assassin, who wasn’t able to get through her defences, but wasn’t giving her any room to escape as he kept diving and slamming against her shield. “You cannot hide forever!” the Assassin declared. Izuku remembered how their previous encounter went. Had the spell he used recharged? If not then he could end up drawing attention to himself, but he still had to try. He held out his hand towards Mash again, his Magic Circuits activating.

“Emergency Evasion!”

Just like before, time slowed to a crawl for Mash, allowing her to peek past the shield that she was holding over her entire body. Again, Assassin was falling down at her in slow-motion, giving her the chance to spring to her feet and back away. Assassin once more landed in the dirt in front of her, but this time she was already up and swinging her shield in a downwards arc. The long edge crashed against the side of Assassin’s head, dropping him face-first into the ground with a heavy thud. He started to lift his head again, only for Mash to bring the shield down again to keep him there.

Izuku was thankful that the plan worked, and redirected his attention to the other fight. Sure enough, Lancer had closed the distance on Caster, swinging both his polearm and-wait, was that a sword? Were all of those spikes on his back different weapons? Caster was doing his best to jump back and keep away, but every time he got a bit too far away, Lancer would suddenly leap forward and swing another weapon from his seemingly never-ending collection. Caster was dodging most of the attacks, but one or two good hits could take him out of it. As Izuku mulled this over, Caster suddenly leapt a good ten meters away from Lancer. He swung his staff again as a series of roots shot out from the ground around him, all of them sharpening to points and piercing into Lancer’s chest. The shadow let out a startled shout, but that transitioned into a frustrated growl. He swung his main naginata up, the blade slicing through the roots in one clean swipe, but leaving the sharpened points sticking into the Lancer’s chest. Undeterred by this, he resumed charging at Caster, already swinging another sword that he had to quickly dodge.

What the shadow didn’t realize was that this made a metaphorical light bulb go off for Izuku. He glanced over at Mash, who was still battering Assassin with her shield, then back to Caster, then cupped his hands near his mouth and called out. “Mash! Caster! Group up!”

Both Servants looked over at him after he said this, confusion flitting across their faces for a moment. That moment passed quickly, and they both disengaged from their respective battles, running towards one another. Once they drew closer to Izuku and the Director, they spun and faced the enemies. Assassin vanished again, only to reappear in the air, already diving at Mash once more. Lancer was charging full force at Caster, a roar of anger leaving his throat. Before either of them could meet their targets, however...

“NOW! SWITCH!” Izuku shouted.

Both Servants’ eyes lit up as they realized what the plan was, and did exactly as he ordered. Caster dove past Mash’s back to reach her opposite side, pointing his staff out and firing off another blast of fire. The shot hit Assassin right in the chest, his entire body soon being engulfed in fire as he yelled and fell to the ground. Mash wove in the other direction, holding up her shield to block Lancer’s swing, the blade of the naginata clashing against the center and letting out another thunderous ring of metal against metal. Unlike Caster, however, Mash felt the impact but was barely phased by it. She pushed her shield upwards, forcing the naginata away, then swung the long edge of the shield into Lancer’s face. He reeled back from the blow, but only for a moment. That moment was crucial, however, as Mash’s eyes glanced to the pieces of wood still sticking into Lancer’s chest. Lancer swung another weapon down at her, but her shield clashed against it in another swing. Spinning her shield on one arm, she thrust the edge forward, crashing it against Lancer’s throat. He staggered back from the blow, forcing him into a coughing fit, giving Mash her window of opportunity. Putting her shield directly in front of her, she dove forward, forcing her full weight against it. The shield smashed against Lancer’s chest, and in doing so, forced all of the protruding roots deeper into his body, to the point that they went right through his back, earning a loud roar of agony from him.

Assassin writhed in similar pain on the ground, but before he could get up, Caster swung his staff out again, more thorny roots crawling out and wrapping around him to keep him down. Despite the roots getting caught up in the flame, they did their job. With Assassin unable to escape, he let out a yell of frustration, anguish, and pain all in one, and before long the flames overtook him, his body dissolving into nothing.

Lancer started to fall over, but used his primary naginata as a support to keep him on his feet. He gave a strangled cough, before lifting his head to his two adversaries. “D...damn...you...” he uttered. To which of them he spoke to remained unclear. His legs shook as he forced himself to stand up, but it proved to be futile. He dropped to his knees, and disappeared in a cloud of shadow as his ally had.

Mash let out a heavy sigh as she heard Izuku let out a victorious cheer from behind her. She looked back to see him with a wide smile on his face, and couldn’t help but return it with one of her own. “The battle has ended, Master!” she answered proudly.

“That was amazing, Mash!” he responded, before turning to Caster with the same wide smile. “You too, Caster! You were incredible out there!”

The older man gave a light laugh and grinned back at him. “Thanks, Master! I’ll admit, for someone who’s as green as your hair you came through pretty well!” he said as a sort of roundabout compliment. He then directed his attention to his fellow Servant. “You too, girlie! Although you’ve definitely gotta work on protecting that ample backside of yours a bit more!” he added.

Which he then emphasized by giving her ‘ample backside’ a swift smack, prompting a yelp and an embarrassed blush to appear on her face.

“C-C- _Caster!_ ” Izuku shouted, looking just a little bit mortified at what he just saw. “Th-That was _totally_ uncalled for!” he protested.

“Huh?” Caster answered, looking confused at the remark. He looked over at the still-embarrassed Mash, then back to his new Master, before pointing at the former. “What? Did you call dibs first or something?” he asked, as if the impropriety of the question was totally unknown to him.

“ _Th-That’s-_! I-I-you-no-but- _you_ -!” was the string of sounds that came out of Izuku’s mouth in reply, which only resulted in a confused look from Mash and more laughter from Caster.

Olga Marie, who was still hanging onto Fou as if he was somehow going to ward danger away, couldn’t help but watch this display with more astonishment than she thought she would feel. Never mind how miraculous it was that a rogue Servant would ally with them when the odds were so stacked against them. Never mind that he was a Caster and thus would be much less of a strain on Izuku’s magical energy to work with. Never mind that they actually pulled it off, and indeed despite his lack of experience Izuku’s quick thinking had saved them again.

What was really strange to her was that he was talking to his new Servant completely _normally_. Most mages would regard a Servant as just a tool, a means to an end, and simply coldly give orders and expect nothing else from them, nor care what they had to say. Some would throw their weight around and remind the Servant that their orders were absolute. Some would go even further and have them do demeaning things just for the power trip, though it was obvious Izuku would never consider something like that. Some - mainly the ones who knew exactly who they summoned - would put on an air of false reverence to make the Servant think they were in control. Izuku wasn’t doing any of those things. He just spoke to Caster as he would any other person, albeit in his own way.

She couldn’t help but think back to the tests they all took, and Izuku’s results against her own. Was this the secret? She tried to imagine how she would act if she had summoned a Servant. She hadn’t even thought of what sort she would want, or who she would want to summon, if anyone. Whoever she contracted with, how would she interact with them? Would she put on airs like she does with everyone else? Would she throw her weight around like a mage was expected to? Before, she would do that without question, but seeing Izuku act like this now made her question herself. Something she found herself doing a lot during this whole adventure.

After watching Izuku make more protests to Caster and him laughing them off, the Director cleared her throat and approached them. All sets of eyes turned to her as she spoke up. “As entertaining as this all is, now that we’re out of danger, we have some things to clear up.” She turned her full attention to Caster, who was watching her with a slight crook to his eyebrow. “Thank you for assisting us, Caster. As you have formed a contract with Midoriya, I trust you don’t mind answering a few questions?” she asked as politely as she could.

Caster looked around the area for a moment, before giving a satisfied hum and looking back to Olga Marie. “Well, it looks like we’re in the clear for now, so yeah, I can do that.” he acquiesed.

“So then you’ll tell us just what went wrong with this Grail War?” she continued.

Caster grimaced at first, his earlier confidence diminishing a bit. “Right to the point, huh?” he commented. “Unfortunately, I only know so much. Basically, something went wrong with Saber. She suddenly started acting completely differently to how she was at the start of the War. After that, it all went to hell in a handbasket. She started taking out Servants left and right, without any regard for the rules put in place. To make things worse, anyone that she killed got right back up as her minion. That’s why those Servants looked the way they did.” he explained. He spread his arms out to gesture to the state of the environment around them, from the smoke blotting out the sky, to the flames still eating away at the buildings, to the rubble all over the place. “Wasn’t long before things got to this point.” he concluded.

This left the Director with quite a bit to consider, but before she could, a disturbed Izuku spoke up. “So, wait...if _anyone_ she killed became a minion of hers, then the skeletons...”

“The citizens of Fuyuki.” Caster replied darkly. After seeing the horrified look on his Master’s face, he quickly added: “They have no consciousness. They’re just bones stitched together by magic, given basic orders and left to wander around. The people have already been dead for a while, kid.”

It did little to comfort Izuku or Mash to hear that. Desecrating the dead wasn’t something some could easily brush off. The knowledge that Servants could consume human souls, as well, left them wondering if the people of Fuyuki really _were_ at peace.

“What about the mediator?” Olga Marie asked, thankfully getting them out of that train of thought. “As soon as Saber started killing people out in the open, he should’ve organized the other Masters and Servants to focus on her.”

“Yeah, he should’ve.” Caster agreed bitterly. “Which was probably why Saber took him out first.”

The Director flinched, her teeth clenching at the answer. “Damn it, she thought that far ahead? ...wait, the mediator had Command Seals left over from the previous War! Why didn’t he use those to stop her?!”

“Hey, I already said I don’t know all the details!” Caster responded. “All I know is that the priest was taken out and Saber started going on a rampage. I don't know what happened to her Master or anyone else, aside the fact that my own Master got taken out some time ago. Since then I’ve just been trying to make it through this whole thing alive.”

“Caster, are you the only Servant left that isn’t under Saber’s control?” Mash quietly asked.

“Got it in one, girlie.” he replied. “I don't know how she managed to pull it off either. Berserker especially is a real monster this time around. But I guess having every other Servant and an army of cannon fodder on your side helps.”

The Director was still mulling all of this information over, when her own eyes lit up in realization. “...I see. So _that’s_ why you suddenly jumped in to help us.” she remarked. “Saber can’t win the War or the Holy Grail until she defeats you. Without a Master, you aren’t fighting at your full strength. So when you saw a few living humans and a Servant, you saw an opportunity. Now you have a chance to turn this around in your favour.”

Izuku tensed a bit at Olga Marie’s rather cold assumption, and hurriedly spoke up. “D-Director, I don’t think he was only acting in his self-interest in-”

“No, she’s nailed it.” Caster interrupted, drawing a shocked look from Izuku. “It’s a give-and-take situation, y’know? I save you, you guys help me win, you can go back home safe and sound, I don’t end up as Saber’s slave, and this city doesn’t end up even worse off than it already is. I mean, I don’t know what she’d wish for, but it can’t be good, right?”

This earned assenting nods from both Mash and the Director. Caster looked over at Izuku, who surprisingly still looked a bit stunned and almost disappointed by the revelation he just made. “What? Look, kid, I’m not exactly in peak physical condition like this. If I’d been summoned as a Lancer, yeah, I’d be tearing it up, but as a Caster I got to pick and choose my battles. And if I’m being honest, I’m not even really in this for the Grail anymore. I don’t know _what_ , but just the fact that you guys are here means something isn’t right with this. I just want to put a stop to all of this and go back to the Throne, really.” he clarified.

Izuku had to admit to himself that Caster had a point. It was a bit disillusioning to find that he wasn’t being altruistic when he helped them, but he supposed he should let that go. He opened his mouth to say something, but the Director spoke first. “Just a moment. You may have saved our lives, and we are obviously grateful for that, but you must understand that we can’t fully trust you.”

Both Izuku and Mash stared at Olga Marie with surprised expressions, the latter quick to speak up. “Director, isn’t that a bit too rude?”

“I’m only being pragmatic about this, Mash.” she responded. “He is still a participant in this Holy Grail War. Even if we take everything he says at face value, we still don’t know what his true intentions are. He may just as well abandon us if it suits him. That isn’t taking into account if he _has_ been completely truthful with us.”

Izuku winced at the summation that the Director made, even if there was some truth to it. More surprising was how he saw Caster nodding after she was finished. “It does make sense, I’ll give you that.” he admitted.

Izuku looked between Caster and the Director, now not totally sure what to think. Olga Marie, for her part, now regarded him with a careful expression. For a moment, she simply stared, studying him for some unclear reason. After this, she looked away and seemed to grumble under her breath. “Midoriya.” she began, her voice forcefully neutral. “He’s contracted with you, and you are his Master. So I’ll leave the decision to you. Whether we trust him and work with him, or cut him loose and continue on our own...” she paused, then sighed as she began unconsciously twirling one of her braided hair strands around her finger. “I trust you’ll make the right call.”

That was definitely a surprise, considering how hard the Director had been on him up until this point. He mostly expected her to make a decision and he’d have to talk her down from it. Now that it was on him, he had to give this careful thought so as to not let her down.

He regarded Caster with a studying expression of his own, trying to think of how to approach this. He was definitely a huge help, and without him they’d all definitely be dead. Even if he wasn’t at his best, just having someone who could attack from a distance would be a huge load off of Mash’s back. While he did want to believe that he was just as much a hero as someone like him should be, however, he couldn’t completely deny the Director’s viewpoint either. If he wasn’t being totally honest with them, then that could come back to bite them, whether just in terms of not trusting him to pull his weight or worried he’ll stab them in the back later.

Plus he was still a bit miffed at Caster slapping Mash’s rear like that.

A few seconds passed as Caster waited for Izuku’s response. Once he seemed to finish thinking, he held up a single finger. “One condition.” he declared.

Caster nodded, finding that reasonable. “Name it.” he said. Hopefully he didn’t try to waste a Command Seal enforcing whatever he was going to ask.

Izuku moved his hand and placed it on his own chest. “My name is Midoriya Izuku.” he said, introducing himself as he would normally. He moved his hand to gesture to Mash, who looked a little confused about where this was going. “This is Mash Kyrielight.” Then to the Director, who was likewise unsure of what was happening. “This is Director Olga Marie Animusphere. We’re all members of the Security Organization Chaldea.” Once he finished, he then held out the hand for Caster to shake. “Could you tell us your name?”

Caster looked down at the extended hand, then up at Izuku’s face, an eyebrow raised to accompany his uncertain expression. “...kid, you get that a Grail War means I can’t just throw around my True Name whenever I want, right?” he asked. This earned a nod from Izuku.

“I know. But if we’re going to be working together, we need to trust each other. So you can trust me to keep that much a secret, right?” he questioned.

Caster seemed to ponder this for a moment, before his lips curled into a slight smirk. “You got me there. Alright, let’s make this official then.” he answered. He then took Izuku’s hand and gave it a firm shake, careful not to squeeze _too_ hard and hurt him. “Servant, Caster. My True Name is Cu Chulainn, the Child of Light.” His smirk widened into a grin after his introduction was done, finishing with: “Nice to properly meet you, Master!”

What the Servant didn’t expect was for Izuku to now be looking at him with eyes so wide they threatened to pop right out of his head, and his mouth to be hanging open, as a strange choking sound was leaving his throat.

“Uh...kid?” he asked, starting to sound worried. “You alright there?”

Izuku’s jaw clicked shut, but clearly he was far from alright, as he fell into a long stammering mess after the fact. “C-C-C-C- _Cu Chulainn?!_ Th-Th- _The_ Cu Chulainn?! Th-The hero of Ulster?! I-I-I can’t believe it’s really-ohmyGod _I’mshakingCuChulainn’shand!_ ”

That was definitely a twist, one that took not only the Caster by surprise, but both Mash and the Director, who were all looking at Izuku with the same baffled expression. “Wait, you actually know who I am?” Cu Chulainn asked. “Not many people outside of my homeland talk about me all that much...”

“O-Of course I know about you!” Izuku shouted, letting go of Cu Chulainn’s hand while waving his arms animatedly. “You trained with Scathach in the Land of Shadows! You took on the army of Connacht almost single-handedly! You-wait, _that’s_ why you mentioned wanting to be a Lancer! You would’ve had the Gae Bolg!”

“Exactly!” Cu Chulainn responded, now more than pleased someone actually got what he was going through. “I mean, sure, I learned how to use the Primordial Runes from my teacher, but they’re not exactly my _specialty_ , y’know? Lemme tell ya, I’m really missing that thing right now...”

The mention of him knowing about runes got Olga Marie’s attention, but before she could think to ask, Izuku surprised her yet again by pulling a notebook seemingly out of nowhere and holding it out for Cu Chulainn. “I-I know this is really sudden, but is there any chance I could get your autograph?!” he nervously asked.

There was a brief period of silence, as just about everyone present couldn’t believe what they just heard. Cu Chulainn soon burst out into laughter, holding his side as the mirth overtook him. “I-you- _wow!_ ” he uttered between laughs. “OK, I don’t exactly remember my other summonings, but this has gotta be a first! I can’t imagine any of my other Masters would’ve asked for my _autograph!_ ”

Izuku’s eager smile started to fizzle a bit at this, and he started to retract the notebook. “R-Right, yeah, of course...that is kind of silly...” he admitted, but Cu Chulainn suddenly grabbed the book before he could completely take it away.

“Whoa whoa whoa now! I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it!” he replied, still grinning widely at Izuku. “You just surprised me, that’s all! Come here, I’ll gladly sign this for you!”

This brought the joyous expression back to Izuku’s face, and he happily stepped closer to open the book for him. Sure, he ended up signing in some language he couldn’t understand, but he still got an autograph from a legendary hero!

While Mash watched this exchange with a soft smile on her face, finding how quickly Izuku switched to such a happy expression endearing, Olga Marie was again left baffled by it. Izuku was now talking to Cu Chulainn in a different way, but it wasn’t the false reverence she thought of before. This was very genuine. Izuku really admired Cu Chulainn with such wide-eyed innocence that it was almost blinding to look at. Not that a figure of his stature wasn’t admirable to begin with, but this was like he was meeting an idol of his for the first time.

Maybe there was something to that assessment about his abilities after all. Maybe he really was going to be a great Master.

She’d just have to wait and see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, this one was a bit of a doozy. I definitely need to keep up my practice with these fight scenes.
> 
> I had to fudge Cu Chulainn's abilities a bit here since DW still hasn't given the Caster version an animation update. I imagine it still fits, he is meant to be a druid after all.
> 
> Next chapter should be a bit shorter but we'll see.

**Author's Note:**

> Strap in folks. We're gonna be here a while.
> 
> I never have and never will claim to know what I'm doing, but I hope you'll enjoy what comes out of this.


End file.
